Yep. We had a good run. And it was good while it lasted. I am talking of the relative COVID-free time that the State of Victoria and the city of Melbourne enjoyed for maybe about 6 months.
Victoria had come of out a severe and extended lockdown by the end of 2020. Cautiously, and tired, people ventured out, to celebrate a well earned summer break. It was beautiful. The sun was out, people were back. But more important, there was hope. That that would be the last time we Victorians had to endure such a collective trauma. And this was evident in the news: after headlines of people suffering and dying from COVID, the news reverted to people getting bitten by sharks and jellyfish, and another set of possible summer bush fires.
Most places of work started taking down their restrictions. Employees returned, cautiously I should add, to their workplaces all over the country. But it was clear that the next step in this fight was to get the vaccines, in order to provide a lasting protection against the isolated cases still trickling down into Australia. You see, the airports and the borders had reopened, and this meant that Australians stuck abroad could now return, in small numbers. They had to quarantine for 14 days, and it was in these hotels that the next set of cases began getting out. There was a breach in South Australia, but the numbers were down in single digits. But there were also talks of new, severe mutant variants of COVID, which spread faster, and with fewer symptoms.
But people trusted the govt, and waited for the vaccine shots. Patiently. And the govt, kept falling off the train. The country does not have any pharma company that could make the vaccine themselves, so they were completely reliant on imports, like they are for most things. And the EU blocked further exports of the vaccines as AstraZeneca was behind committed shipments to EU states. It was becoming clear that the federal govt had no clear set goals to this target.
And so we had no option but to wait. And slowly and steadily, the masks came off, and people came out to enjoy the rest of summer and whole of Autumn. The govt was more concerned that people were reluctant to return to the cities, and less concerned that those who were willing to get vaccinated, were not getting the shots. There were huge plans announced to try and entice city foot traffic back, which included free coffee and restaurant deals !
Too soon. Because winter brought bad news. A new COVID variant has now hit the state, and is spreading rapidly across the city. This new variant was first found in India, and got of hotel quarantine in SA again. But by the time it was found, patient 0 had visited some very populous parts of the city. As of today the count of total cases stands at 60+. And they are still rising.
Starting last week, the state was pushed into another severe lockdown. And just like that, were all back in our homes. A bitter reminder that the pandemic was still not over on earth.
While other countries are still fighting the virus with primitive healthcare, we in Australia has so far had a better run. 6 months of relative freedom was not that bad, to be honest. I got to go on a short holiday. We got more sun than we thought we would. There were days we celebrated, and evenings were revelled in. Even had a get together at work. All of that was a welcome relief from a year of being locked in.
It is not over yet. The wait continues.
