Life In Coronavirus Lockdown

COVID-19 cases in Australia (source: The Age)

It's been an interesting year in Australia so far. Just as the bushfires that raged throughout the summer were being extinguished, the coronavirus pandemic started to hit. After some initial restrictions on return travellers from China in February, the majority of restrictions came into effect three months ago in March: Victoria declared a state of emergency, return travellers from overseas were mandated to self-isolate for 14 days (later became mandatory 14 days hotel quarantine), schools moved to remote and flexible learning, and social distancing measures and strict limits on numbers of people allowed to gather together were implemented.

The economic impacts were swift as whole industries essentially shut down overnight, including the arts sector, sports, restaurants and hospitality, cinemas and gyms. My social calendar dried up as activities I had planned in the coming months were cancelled, including concerts, NGV exhibitions, the French Film Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and Melbourne International Film Festival. People were mandated to work from home if possible, which is what I have been doing since 24 March. In Victoria, restrictions meant you could only go out for the following reasons:
1. shopping for food and supplies
2. exercise
3. medical care
4. work and school - if necessary
5. visiting family and friends (from mid-May 2020)

Thankfully, unlike in many other countries, the restrictions and community efforts have resulted in Australia flattening the curve. As of today there have been 7,320 cases and 102 deaths from COVID-19 in Australia. Many of our cases have been from returned overseas travellers, with little community transmission. Large scale testing and contact tracing is helping to catch cases earlier and limit their spread. As a result, the country is gradually easing restrictions and we are starting to emerge from lockdown and see many things open up again (although still with social distancing). Sports have just started up again for the NRL and AFL. State borders that were shut should hopefully begin reopening soon, and we may have a trans-Tasman travel bubble with New Zealand in a few months.

It's nice to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Living alone it's been a bit isolating, despite my introverted nature. I've been catching up with Sean weekly to watch episodes of RuPaul's Drag Race, but otherwise my only interactions with people are through video conference meetings at work and weekly trips to the grocery store. I'm probably most looking forward to the gym reopening as I have had a lack of physical activity despite trying to exercise at home. We still aren't sure when we'll be able to return to the office, but I would like to get back into the Melbourne CBD. Hopefully we will avoid a second wave of COVID-19 cases, but only time will tell.