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  • Day 206

    Six Months and Counting

    September 23, 2020 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    It's now just over six months since the COVID 19 pandemic burst out all over the world. At that time I was partway through a cycling adventure in Cuba, when the Australian Government put out an urgent message to all Australians abroard, warning them to return home as quickly as possible by any means possible.

    So what has happened in the past six months ? In a nutshell summary here it is. Firstly I took the DFAT advice to return home. It took numerous changes of flights and a great deal of money, but three days later I was safely back in Melbourne. Although it was a nightmare journey around the planet, I am so glad I acted quickly. We are now being reminded constantly that there are still tens of thousands of Australians scattered overseas, with no definite idea when they will be able to return. The problem is that there are very few international flights taking place and the few planes that do make the journey are only permitted to carry a handful of passengers. It is likely that most of those still waiting to get home will not be home before Christmas.

    I arrived back in Melbourne, just in time for Lockdown Number One to begin. Maggie and I packed the dog, our bikes, some groceries and clothes, and headed down to our holiday home at Inverloch. That's where we spent the next three months. When it appeared that Melbourne had endured the worst, the restrictions were briefly relaxed a little. We returned home to Pakenham and were able to see our families again. But it didn't last.

    Almost as soon as our freedom was in sight it was snatched away again. Largely due to unbelievable errors made in the running of hotel quarantine, the state was plunged back into a dreaded "second wave" of COVID. This was much worse than the first wave, with daily infections soaring to over 700. We were trapped in Lockdown Number Two. Once again we were cut off from family and friends, unable to venture more than 5 km from our home for only one hour a day. Every time we do leave the home, we must wear a face mask. It was not easy to face another indefinite period of isolation after we could almost feel the end was in reach.

    Now, after weeks of lockdown, the daily numbers are finally starting to show a consistent drop. We are told that the all important "14 day rolling average" has dropped below 30. Today's figure has just been released and it stated that the state had 15 new cases and 3 deaths. That's a lot better than 700 and gives us some hope that the restrictions might be relaxed a little this coming weekend. We will have to wait and see.

    And what is happening in other countries ? Europe is also suffering from a terrible second wave. This morning the British PM announced that the country would be reintroducing restrictions. Apparently, after 11 weeks of relaxed living, the virus has once again escaped at a frightening rate. The most common offenders are people between 20 - 29. Although they are often asymptomatic themselves, they are eventually passing their infections on to older people who suffer badly. Most other European countries are also experiencing a resurgence in cases. This is a reminder that we are not out of the woods yet.

    On the other side of the ledger, there are almost daily reports of the progress being made with the development of a vaccine. Some of the vaccine candidates have now moved to the third stage of trials, where they being tested on tens of thousands of people. The world is hoping that at least one of these vaccines could be the game changer that we need. Only time will tell.

    It will be interesting to read this journal in the future when 2020 has long been relegated to the history books. Things are always much easier to see with the benefit of hindsight. For anyone reading this in the year 2025 or beyond, I can assure them that 2020 was not a year we ever want to repeat. I hope that 2021 will be much better.
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