With COVID-19 busy doing the rounds across the globe, most countries have sensibly gone into total lockdown in an effort to slow the spread of the disease, and their inhabitants are sensibly following the directives. That’s good. Smart people.
What’s not good (and just plain stupid) is what’s happening here in Australia. The word has been out for weeks now; stay home, stay indoors and if you do have to go anywhere, make sure it is only a quick trip to pick up food and other essential supplies and maintain a safe distance from others. Pretty simple really, so why are so many Australians indifferent to what is happening right in front of them? The footage on the nightly news of vacuous people, wandering around in groups and generally enjoying a day out on the town has me spouting profanity that I didn’t even know I knew. I’m talking a lot of people here (and a lot of profanity!)
Staying home means exactly that. It does not mean meeting up with your friends for coffee and huddling up for a get-together. It does not mean going off for a day at the beach or the park or to go wandering around whatever shops are open and generally socialising and having a good time. It does not mean that at all. It also does not mean holding a barbecue in the backyard and inviting all your friends and neighbours to drop in. It actually means Stay Home! Just you and your family, in your own home with no visitors, no matter who they are. Now how hard can that be? But there are still hordes of people out there thinking the directive does not apply to them, hence the vast numbers blatantly ignoring what they have been told. In the cities, scores of people are out having a stroll and doing it in total disregard of the “social distancing” we have all been asked to adopt.
Seriously? What is wrong with people? Why is Stay Home, Stay In, and Stay Away From Each Other not clicking?
To be fair, many of us are doing the right thing, but the number who are completely ignoring the steps that have been put in place to try and stem the spread of this disease is just deplorable!
Ditto with the hoarding. This began with the bushfire crisis here and has now flowed into the Coronavirus crisis. Time and time again people have been told that buying up more than they need is not necessary. Doing so is just creating shortages that don’t have to happen, which makes it incredibly hard for the rest of the population to buy what they need. But this is another directive that is not getting through some thick skulls out there and so shortages in food, toilet paper and other essentials continue to plague us. When will that message get through that there really is enough for everyone if the selfish and greedy few would just back off and let the rest of us buy what we need.
I think the problem here is that up until now, current generations of Australians have not had to contend with something like this. Yes, there were shortages and food coupons around the time of the First and Second World Wars, and there was the Spanish Flu epidemic, but the current generations were not alive when these events happened and so they aren’t really taking this seriously. I was not alive then either but I can at least see the logic behind the steps being implemented to try and slow the spread of COVID-19.
Surely people must be able to see the logic in following the plan? Well no, many here still appear to be ignorant of the threat, despite all the warnings. They are still hanging out at beaches, shopping centres, parks and each other’s homes. So what does it take to make the danger we are in hit home to these people? Have they convinced themselves that it won’t happen to them? I’m guessing it will take contracting the disease and ending up in hospital, as sick as, staring mortality in the face!
It has also come to light that those who have managed to return from overseas and tested positive, along with those who have just contracted it anyway, are ignoring the self isolation conditions. Police checking up on them, following information that they are going out into the community, are finding that yes, they are not at home. Self isolation would have been very precisely explained to them, so they cannot claim ignorance about the conditions, yet they are going out. Hefty fines are in place now, so we may see a bit less of that. But how many have they infected?
No one’s exaggerating here. COVID-19 is a very dangerous disease. It has shut down countries world wide. If infected, you are a danger to your community. You, and those you infect when you ignore the rules, could end up dying from it. It is a global pandemic.
And it can so easily happen to you.