Here we go again. I write this as a grim-faced Gladys Berejiklian and Dr Kerry Chant finish their daily 11am press conference.
The COVID Delta variant is tearing across Sydney and a ropeable Premier is imploring people to take this seriously.
True, daily case numbers are still small by global standards.
But letting the virus rip is a one-way street to a dystopia of hospitalisations and deaths.
So, NSW is facing its most dangerous situation since the onset of the pandemic – and a likely lockdown that will drag on weeks.
How jarring it’s been to see the euphoric Euro 2021 football crowds! Or the polite applause of the packed Wimbledon grandstands.
Meanwhile here, we’re back to exercising with a maximum of one other person from the same household.
It’s tempting to look for scapegoats and the biggest failures have been federal. The excessive reliance, even a year into the pandemic, on the leaky sieve of hotel quarantine. And, of course, a vaccination rollout slower than continental drift.
But NSW decisions will also be second-guessed. The inadequate public health orders that failed to enforce vaccination requirements on hotel drivers. Going into lockdown late and then lockdown-lite.
Overshadowing it all has been the complacency that NSW – repeat after me – is the gold standard in COVID management. Even now, as our diligent public health officials and contact tracers scramble desperately, I still hold this touching naïve belief that if anyone in the world can contain Delta, it’s us.
But perhaps it’s time that we all stopped believing our own publicity, not just the Premier. We can wait for the government to put police on the streets and shut everything down. But the responsibility is also on us.
Do we really need to make that trip into Ikea, Office Works or Mitre 10? Millions of similar micro-decisions could determine how long lockdown lasts.
Reconceptualise your concept of family and friends to those in your own household, the Premier says. I live alone and can handle it. But many in the Parramatta area can’t. The elderly who need help to buy the essentials. People with health conditions or disabilities.
We’ll have to work hard to care for each other and stay connected. For me, I find I’m having elongated SMS threads with small groups of people to pass the time. There’s one with old university friends; another with my sister and mum. In one case, we share jokes, swap links, exchange the occasional expletive, but also our deepest thoughts. Then someone requests the string be deleted and we start again.
My work colleagues have been reduced once more to pixels on a screen. We’re trying to conduct job interviews, process work for clients, handle complicated documents.
I remember last year when a colleague who was leaving had one of those awful Friday night farewell Zoom drinks. The call timed out after 40 minutes. And it was a macabre sight as he waved and faded to black, never to be seen or heard from again.
Are we really going back there? Let’s remember, we had a taste of freedom once.
For a few heady months, the parties and family gatherings resumed.
We hung out in bars, attended church and sporting events and sat on packed trains.
It was a fool’s paradise, resting on insufficient vaccination rates.
But there is always hope.
We will live our lives to the fullest again.
Alan is a journalist and communications specialist. He writes a weekly column for Parra News.