With the “emergency phase” of the Covid-19 pandemic officially coming to an end, the Free Press looks back on one of the biggest news events in recent history.
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Few would forget the fateful moment on March 22, 2020, when former Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced all ‘non-essential’ businesses would be required to close for six weeks, following the World Health Organisation’s declaration of a global pandemic.
Soon after, the Prime Minister also announced stay at home orders, asking Australians to only leave their home for essential shopping, medical care and exercise. A ban on travelling overseas was also imposed following the death of a woman who contracted Covid-19 on a passenger cruise ship.
Locally, many events fell victim to the 500-person cap restriction imposed on public gatherings including the Corowa-Rutherglen Relay for Life, the East Australian Billy Cart Championships, and local sporting matches. Corowa’s 41st annual Khaki Vehicle Enthusiast Swim-In just managed to scrape in, concluding right before the mandatory restrictions begun.
At the time, many people were unaware of the severity of COVID-19 and how infectious the disease was. No one could predict just how long the stay home orders would last.
With so much unknown, local leaders urged the community remain calm and support each other through the growing health crisis.
Sanger Street Corowa and Main Street Rutherglen became eerily quiet as local businesses tried to put their best foot forward and switch how they offered their services in a ‘Covid safe’ way.
Restaurants began offering takeaway meals, while retail offered to deliver their essential goods to people’s homes.
For the first time in history, ANZAC Day was marked from home, as people gathered at the front of their driveways at 6am to honour the fallen.
Corowa Distillery Co joined the global fight, converting their production lines and producing hand sanitiser for local residents and businesses.
Australia’s longest-running wine celebration, Winery Walkabout, switched to a virtual event over the Queen’s Birthday weekend with 3,500 wine lovers tuning in to watch Tim Campbell and Anthony Callea host a day of online entertainment.
Over the next few months, phrases such as ‘social distancing’, ‘flattening the curve’, ‘mandatory isolation’, ‘PCR test’ and ‘border bubble’ would become a normal part of people’s vocabulary.
The biggest shock arrived in July 2020 when the border between NSW and Victoria was slammed shut for the first time in 100 years following a surge of COVID-19 cases in Victoria.
For 138 days, a massive police operation set up on the border with 14,000 NSW police officers and 1200 ADF personnel manning 27 checkpoints across the state.
The closure caused complete mayhem for border locals with passes and special exemptions needed to cross the border. Many businesses suffered from the consequences of the border closure.
However, the pain didn’t end there. Border closures and lockdowns became the politicians preferred way to deal with spikes in Covid-19 cases. Often there was little notice given before sweeping changes came through, upending many people’s lives and creating a dangerous situation for those who needed to travel significant distances to get home.
The adverse effect of lockdowns on morale and mental health was experienced right along the border region.
Almost 1000 days since the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, many individuals and businesses are still recovering from the poor decision making inflicted by politicians.
Time will tell if key lessons have been learned from the past 18 months. Should another pandemic arrive on Australian shores, we can only hope the rules are pragmatic, easy-to-understand, and are justified by medical research, rather than being about political point scoring.