MARCH 2020

The month began with news of the first death in Australia from the new virus – a man who had contracted it as a passenger on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, and been repatriated through Darwin quarantine.

We continued life almost as normal, mostly centred on care of the garden, with regular watering still needed. Our water bills here were much higher than we’d had in Melbourne, for sure. But as the month wore on, began to restrict our outings, even before it was mandated.

Mid-month, with autumn in sight, made a foray to a local nursery for stock for my garden, to be planted as soon as the weather begins to cool: correas, callistemon, eremophilia. Couldn’t find any vegie seed though, so ordered some online from Tasmania.

Eremophilla

I had been helping grandson with his General Maths and was pleased when his first official result for some course work was 77%. Grandma did make a difference!

Melbourne’s summer of sport was drawing to a close. John was looking forward to the start of the AFL football season and studying the form of his beloved Carlton’s players.

Amid all this normality, it was impossible to realize just how quickly life would change.

Correa

Then, gradually, news of virus cases began to feature in the daily news. It was rather scary to hear that there were nine cases in the Greater Bendigo area – all travellers returned from overseas.

I started to buy a few extra packs of meat with the weekly shop, to ensure some reserves in the meat freezer.

The World Health Organization declared there was a pandemic underway. Comparisons were made with the Spanish Influenza outbreak that took such a dreadful toll soon after World War 1.

Reality intruded upon Melbourne when the motor racing Grand Prix was abruptly cancelled – after all the teams, supporters and so on had arrived – and just before practice was due to start, with patrons being turned away at the gates. Somebody, somewhere in officialdom, had decided that such a large crowd gathering might be unwise.

I made a special trip to the supermarket to stock up on powdered milk, bread flour, pasta, breakfast cereal and some extra canned goods. No other shoppers appeared to be doing the same though. Yet.

In Melbourne, work on Bus had stalled, waiting on the extra fibre glass work to be done.

John had been heavily involved for months now, planning the inaugural local Autumn Festival, to be held in the grounds of a local winery in May. They decided, in light of the way events were headed, to cancel it.

Mid-month, restrictions began. A novelty at first, they were to become far too familiar before much longer. Bans on large gatherings were imposed. Then on smaller gatherings. And visiting aged care homes. Then events cascaded…

All sorts of stories circulated about the transmission of this viral illness. It was unclear to what extent it was airborne, whether it was spread through touch and physical contamination, even, of goods in shops. For a short time, it was advised we should clean everything coming into the house! The groceries were unpacked outside and wiped “clean” before putting them away inside. I had worn protective gloves and a face mask to the shops – luckily, I had a few face masks put away, intended to be used when handling potting mix.

The Australian Government issued warnings to Australians overseas to come home whilst they still could. It seemed pretty obvious that with reduced travel and rapidly declining tourism, there would soon be greatly reduced airline services – which could make it harder for people to come home.

Shortly after that warning, the Government closed our borders to all non-residents. Travellers returning were asked to quarantine themselves at home for two weeks. Unfortunately, this relied on common sense, honesty, and concern for others. It was quickly apparent that there were those who had none of these qualities, but who were determined not to have their normal social activities curtailed in any way by consideration for others. A group of Victorians returning from a ski holiday in the US, proceeded to immediately throw a house party. Some of their guests received more than a good time! Although this gained plenty of publicity, unfortunately there was no naming of names. That would have been a good punishment, but I guess there was enough other information for locals and most of their acquaintances to figure out who they were. Not to mention infections!

We queried John’s daughter, on post in Washington DC, about whether she would be returned home. No – her role was one that required her to remain there, one of only a handful of staff left at the Embassy.

On 19^th March occurred an event truly unbelievable for the ineptitude and stupidity of the various authorities involved, although it was merely the first incompetence of many to come. The ship Ruby Princess docked in Sydney after a cruise. Despite having cases of the virus on board, 2700 passengers were allowed to leave without any testing or restriction, and proceeded to travel to their homes all over the country. Soon, there were over 100 cases detected in one week, across the nation – and the thing was galloping out of control.

Lockdown began in Vic. All non-essential activities were cancelled. People had to practice social distancing – i.e. stay 1.5 metres away from anyone else. Another new term that was to become boringly familiar. Schools were closed early for the Term 1 break. Across Australia, gathering places for people were closed – gyms, cafes, hotels, cinemas. Football would be played without spectators! Special testing stations for the virus were being set up everywhere, as tests were being developed that involved nose swabs.

It’s an ill wind…daughter in law was working enormous hours, as her workplace started to churn out all the new signage needed – for testing stations, businesses, hospitals – and making plastic protective barriers for same.

With the boys home from school, daughter stayed with them in the day, then went to work in the late afternoon, into the night. With people being put off work due to shut downs, many at Centrelink had been taken off their normal duties, to be trained in Newstart allowance, for the expected increase in unemployed.

We had the televised spectacle of people fighting in supermarket aisles – over toilet paper! Who would have thought a possible shortage of same would panic people the most? I thought back to my childhood, when torn up telephone books, newspapers and the like, were the staple of the home dunny…when did we become so reliant on soft tissue?

Not 3ply, but works…

By now, there was much speculation about the origins of this virus, now called Covid-19. Pretty obvious it had begun in China. But exactly when and how was unclear. Was it naturally occurring in animals and transmitted to humans via the so-called “wet” markets? Or had it escaped from a lab? Exact details of events and sequences in China seemed shrouded in mystery, which only fuelled suspicions in the rest of the world.

On social media, I shared on a post that said “You thought dogs were hard to train…Look at all the people who can’t sit and stay”.