JUNE 2020

The month started in quite a positive way. Hardly any new Covid cases. A further easing of restrictions. Pubs and restaurants were open again, albeit with some distancing rules. Gatherings of up to 20 people were allowed at home and in public.

Friend M had planned an extensive South American trip for later in the year and a couple of shorter overseas ventures with friends. All these had now been cancelled by the operators. No refunds, though, just a mountain of credits to be used at some impossible to ascertain future time.

On 9^th, grandson went back to school and we were freed from the home schooling. Yippee. Not that we were inclined to do much with the freedom: going out and about still seemed risky for we older people, especially given one of us had suspect lungs. There was work to do in the garden, especially with the annual leaf drop littering the place, but with winter weather that was both necessary and unappealing work.

Since the restrictions eased, there had, apparently, been an ongoing influx of visitors to Bendigo from Melbourne. That peaked over the June long weekend. All the more reason for people like us to stay at home!

The ongoing saga with Bus continued. Mechanic had not been able to fit the door, which had somehow warped. Not clear whether that was in transit due to poor packing or if it started out that way. Back to the obliging fibre glass guy for more work. It was a pity that this had dragged on so… with overseas travel essentially off limits, I could see a big rise in demand for vehicles suitable for domestic travel.

Predictably, after restrictions had eased and people were allowed to travel about again, and meet up – too often in large groups, despite supposed limits – in the latter half of the month, there was a sharp jump in case numbers. It emerged that some people who had been “contacts” of Covid cases, who had been supposed to isolate at home, had in fact been out and about, still going to work and busily socializing.

Added to that, it emerged that some of the private security staff responsible for monitoring hotel quarantine in Melbourne – where people returning from overseas were mandated to spend time – had been very slack about their duties, contributing to  yet another sharp upturn in case numbers. By now, scientists were able to genome track individual infections and thus track back to the source. It was genome testing that proved the failures of quarantine at two Melbourne hotels.

So, back came a tightening of restrictions, late in the month. Of mainly academic interest to us at that stage. At least, Term 2 ended and so schools were not a place of transmission.

I was feeling quite sorry for grand daughter, in Melbourne. She completed Year 12 last year and deferred her uni entry to have a gap year. The plan had been to work her café job for the first part of the year, then do some travel. Instead, she has been confined to home and  on Work Care because the café has been shut.

So many workers have been affected by this plague and the consequent government decisions. Our families have been amongst the more fortunate ones, mostly. Daughter and partner are in “essential” jobs here. Son alright – still traffic control happening and his administrative side of the business can be done from home. Criminals are still plying their trades, so one step daughter’s legal work continues. Other step daughter remains on post at our Washington DC embassy, watching at too close quarters the ways the Covid emergency is being handled in the USA – at times unbelievably insane!. Whilst some may question the severity of some Australian official responses, what we hear from her makes me very grateful for the governments we do have.