One Law for Some

Today marked a very significant milestone in the COVID 19 pandemic. In Victoria everyone must now wear a mask, whenever they are in public. Well not quite everyone. There are exceptions for anyone who says that they are "jogging". In fact don't have to wear one if you are engaged in any sort of exercise. So cyclists would also be exempt, as would people with any sort of breathing difficulty. And of course children can't be expected to wear one either. It could also be added that you don't have to wear a mask if you are smoking a cigarette, drinking a coffee or having a Mars bar. Apart from those dozens of exceptions, absolutely everyone must wear a mask (or at least have one hanging limply around your neck).

Already it is apparent that there are so many exceptions to the rule that it risks becoming another farce. After all, just when does a brisk walk become a jog ? At my age I could claim that even walking to my letterbox constitutes extreme exercise. And I thought that health experts had been warning us for months that joggers pose a serious health risk to others every time they huff and puff their way past.

This afternoon Maggie and I donned our face coverings and set off to see how the new regulation had changed our neighbourhood. We quickly discovered that there seemed to be fewer walkers than usual, Maybe that was because of the cold weather, or maybe it was due to the fact that wearing a face mask really is damned uncomfortable.

We did observe that most walkers who were out were abiding by the rule, but as they say "there is always one". We saw that "one". A middle aged, grey haired gent was parading around the lake. The only thing he was wearing on his head was a set of headphones. There is a slim chance that he was suffering from some serious medical condition, but I suspected that he was just out to arrogantly exercise his civil liberties, no matter how much it impacted on anyone else.

And of course there were plenty of bare faced joggers. I could not help but notice the way that one jogger ran close up behind walkers and then brushed past, a few centimetres from their shoulders. The obvious question is why would someone choose to jog in such a crowded place, where there are so many walkers ? Surely the safer alternative would be to do their jogging in a quiet, isolated place instead.

It is this sort of selfish behaviour that has been repsonsible for the terrible state that Melbourne is now in. Today's figure was 403 new cases, continuing the apalling run of new cases. Most of these new COVID infections are now taking place in the 20-29 age group. Infections in the 60-69 age group only account for something like 6% of total new cases. To my way of thinking (and today's observations) it is stubborn old men and self obsessed young people that need to be publicly shamed. Surely it should have been one law for all, with almost no exceptions. If we are ever going to get serious about beating this enemy, we have to stop treating it like a joke.Read more