“Into the unknown...”

It’s almost as if the song “Into the unknown” from Frozen 2 was a prediction of how this year would play out..

I blinked and next minute, it's almost the end of 2020.

It truly felt like we're all extras in a scene from the movie "Contagion"... scaary stuff!

I am thankful that I live in a regional area of Australia. Our town has a population just shy of 100 000. 

In the first stages of the pandemic, it wasn’t long before I had a close call with it myself... All it took was one health care worker that returned to work after visiting a popular holiday overseas destination. When they showed symptoms and confirmed that it was COVID-19, all the patients they had seen were contacted and tested. 

Two of those people that had been contacted were people with whom I had an extended conversation! This was post-contact with the health worker, pre-notification of their potential exposure..

Waiting for their test results was rather nerve-wracking and infuriating. I did have mild symptoms of a cold, so I went to the fever clinic to get tested. They declined to test until the two people I had been contact with had been confirmed as positive cases. 

Thankfully, they were given the all clear, but the virus had made its presence known in the local community. People all over the world, even here in our town, started panic buying and supermarkets had to enforce limits on how many items could be purchased.  For reasons that still cannot be explained, toilet paper was the  product that was in high demand... 

In our corner of the country, the state government strongly advised the public to stay at home and not leave their house unless it was to purchase food and supplies.  Only “essential workers” were allowed to go to work (Healthcare, Supermarket retail assistants, teachers and school staff etc) Students changed from face to face to an online classroom for 5 weeks... At-risk people worked from home.. it was certainly unknown territory.  Being “connected” via the World Wide Web has made the ordeal a little more bearable.

We awaited daily updates from the Prime Minister and the State Premiers. Restrictions were put in place: 

borders were closed, internationally, between states and at one stage, we were instructed not to travel out of the local area. Public venues were closed, public gatherings were banned, high school formals, weddings and funerals were also included... everyone has been affected by this pandemic.

My own Dad passed away at end end of May this year.(unrelated to COVID) If his funeral was held a week earlier, we would be limited to only 20 attendees. The  restrictions changed and it was increased to 50 attendees, just two days before. What was a blessing on one hand, there were still obstacles- We still were unable to gather in a public space as a large family group to hold an official Wake.. My heart aches for those that have had to farewell their loved ones during this time.

Fast forward to now, just few days before Christmas.. one can hope that the worst of it is over, but one shouldn’t count chickens before they hatch..Recent waste water test results in indicate that there is evidence of the virus (either an undiagnosed case or shedding from a recovered case) it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. 

Stay safe!

TGBTG

Anje <3