I’D never thought we’d be counting lockdowns in half-dozens, but here we are.
Lockdown 6.0 has arrived and we all know the drill.
Until midnight Thursday, at least, there’s only five reasons to leave home.
We’re all advised to buckle up, stay the course, do what’s right for Victoria.
The truth is we’ve again landed in an incredibly frustrating situation, one that’s exceptionally triggering, disruptive and demoralising.
Every time we rebuild our house of cards, someone says snap, and it all comes crashing down.
Businesses are at breaking point. Families are separated. Students are stuck at home. And parents are struggling.
When my four-year-old asks if he can have a little mate over for a play, or visit Nanny and Poppy in Dareton, or visit our neighbours who live just metres away, the answer is repeatedly: “No Jedi, because of the coronavirus lockdown.”
This week, for the first time, he worked it into the question: “Mum can we go to the Park for Play if it’s not coronavirus lockdown?”
Earlier this week, he heard me cough and said: “Do you need to get a COVID test, Mum?”
Jed has lived through more lockdowns than birthday celebrations.
He was 2 when the pandemic started and it’s all he knows.
We’ve been told the way off this COVID lockdown merry-go-round is through vaccination.
As of a week ago, the north-west had the lowest first-dose vaccination rates of anywhere in regional Victoria.
And less than one person in five in the north-west is fully vaccinated.
If you’re open to hearing any justification for why we’re included in this latest lockdown, this is it.
We are highly vulnerable and the only thing worse than being locked down with no cases would be being locked down with cases out of control. We are not invincible.
Mildura rolled up its sleeves to get through our own Delta outbreak.
Our sleeves remain rolled up. Our community is highly motivated to get vaccinated. But we don’t have enough vaccine. The questions for our Federal and state governments are why don’t we have enough, and when will we have what we need? Tick tock. We’re over it.
