Isolation Diaries part 21: Step out, face the sunshine

By Andrew Johnston

Nov 17, 2020

But I don't want to spend the whole of my life indoorsLaying low, waiting on the next stormI don't want spend the whole of my life insideI wanna step out, and face the sunshine

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~ The Next Storm, by Frank Turner

IS ANYONE else in countdown mode?

I mean, you probably are.

You're probably reading this on Wednesday when the paper comes out, which marks just five days until the NSW border with Victoria fully re-opens.

Every day we are getting closer to a bit more freedom.

And, might I add, well earned freedom.

But this week, we also saw how easily this can all fall apart.

South Australia, which has been one of the better performed states in the country in terms of its response to COVID, is on the brink of falling into chaos due to one outbreak.

No-one did anything wrong, no-one broke the rules (so it seems, anyway).

Someone went home to their family, and unknowingly took the virus with them.

Suddenly, 17 people had the virus by Monday, and states were madly shutting their borders in response.

The virus could have moved freely within the community for days without us knowing.

It makes me think back to Shepparton a few weeks ago.

The actions of one person caused three more to get sick.

Luckily, it was small numbers, just three people, and we avoided chaos.

But those are the margins in this.

One tiny issue could blow up and send us backwards.

It puts into perspective how great our current numbers in Victoria truly are.

It didn't, in the grand scheme of things, take much for our state to be plunged into chaos, and on the road to recovery, it wouldn't have taken much for it to be undone.

And yet, we have made it most of the way through the storm.

And our reward is around the corner.

We should enjoy that fact.

Treat this week as a wake-up call, no doubt.

Realise based on what has happened in South Australia that we need to remain vigilant, we need to continue to play by the rules.

But if we do it the right way, we should be okay.

We can avoid things going badly, we can keep ourselves and one another safe.

That's an exciting prospect.

The virus is still here; it's going to be here for a while yet.

So we need to face it head on.

We need to get on with our lives.

I walked around town this weekend and saw a lot more people than I have in recent months.