Melbourne is back in Stage 4 lockdown.

[groovergirl]

Howdy all. I'm in Melbourne, and it's just been announced that we're back in Stage 4 lockdown from midnight. It's because of some coronavirus cases in a quarantine hotel at the airport.

We've done this before, and everyone was saying "You've got this, Melbourne!" and telling us how awesome we were. But we've been so awesome for so long, and we're all so tired of this. I think most Australians are prepared to do masks and practical precautions for the long term, but these sudden hits to work, school and social life are hard to bear. I couldn't see my family in Sydney this past Xmas because the border was closed.

Hand-hold, anyone? I'll be OK tomorrow. Just in despair now.

After watching the news there are clearly too many Melbourians who could use a bit of educating. Fucking protesters

Titsywoo, Brisbane had a five day lockdown in January, Perth has just had one too. Victoria is having the same response now. All have been for the same reason - quarantine infections.

OP
I have friends in Melbourne and from what I know from them, I looked at your title and just thought "oh, did someone sneeze?"

One friend is all for it and the other dead against it. Just like here.

I was looking at upcoming theatre listings in Melbourne and thinking it all seemed too good to be true. They will find excuses when they are looking.

All good wishes to you

Since the Uk has been in and out of lock down and in and out of various different tiers and in Australia you have been pretty free for the majority of the last year ...... aren't you being insensitive.....

I mean we have had mass numbers of deaths....NHS in places on its knees and much more problems....

Yet you come to a UK site and have a whinge about a little bit of lock down!!!!

[quote Cornettoninja]@echt ‘educate yourself’ - how about you try a bit of education yourself?

This is a predominantly UK forum. We’ve had almost 4 million cases, 115k fatalities, three lockdowns, continuous restrictions, massively reduced access to healthcare, huge economic impacts.... what exactly is it you think we need educating on? You’ve no idea what it’s like to live in a country where every day there is a very real risk of contracting covid despite restrictions.

What’s Australia had 29k cases and not even a thousand deaths? I mean kudos to your government but bollocks do you have any concept of the worst case scenario.

Lockdowns of whatever length are hard and awful, but it takes a special kind of blockheadedness to tell a predominantly UK forum to fucking educate themselves.[/quote]
This - with BELLS on

Slightly OT but the complaint against your PM and vaccines is probably unjustified as you are zero covid you can let them bed in the rest of the world and choose a winner come the time you want to begin the program in earnest. It's an envious position to be in from where I am sitting.

It's not helpful to describe 'Australian' lockdown experience as each state has had really different experiences
Victoria, where Melbourne is, did it really tough for months. That's why we're commenting on what it is like to go back.

@echt I agree, we in the UK didn’t have a lockdown that was anywhere near as tough as Melbourne and that is why we are still in a terrible position with covid.I feel very sorry for you having to go back to restrictions after having tasted freedom.I wish we had Dan Andrews running our country.The UK has always been weeks behind Australia in dealing with covid.Btw my daughter lives in Melbourne and I know how much tougher it was than here.Crossing my fingers for you.

[quote TryingNotToPanicOverCovid]@BlackAmericanoNoSugar

I think it's your family mentioned in this BBC report - towards the end?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-55929180

Also the security guard who caught it but never was in contact with anyone.

I am fascinated by how it spreads.[/quote]
It could be her, I'm not sure but the details are similar. My sense of time passing isn't great (especially at the moment when every day is the same) but it might match her details. Although my niece's funeral was was on 2nd Feb and SIL's positive test was several days before that so earlier than 'last week' as stated in that report. But it could still be her I guess.

Not what are you doing in lockdown atm that they can’t?

@Changi

Not in England, there's never been a distance rule

There has in Wales, which is part of the UK. Just like Victoria is part of Australia.

There should hav been a distance rule as we came out of the first lockdown. I've often thought it was hugely irresponsible to go straight from Stay Home to Travel any distance you like! we were suddenly able to travel hundreds of mules if we wanted.. All that mixing of high rate and low rate areas was bound to cause trouble by the end of summer.

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar so sorry to hear about your niece :(

This week alone, 2 of my extended family (one 42 and the other 89) have caught covid whilst in hospital. The 42 year old died on Tuesday. The 89 year old is hanging on.

Everyone hates lockdowns but here in London we've effectively been in Lockdown since November (with a brief respite before Christmas). I haven't seen any family for over a year. 5 days is really nothing to get too depressed about.

[quote Cornettoninja]@echt ‘educate yourself’ - how about you try a bit of education yourself?

This is a predominantly UK forum. We’ve had almost 4 million cases, 115k fatalities, three lockdowns, continuous restrictions, massively reduced access to healthcare, huge economic impacts.... what exactly is it you think we need educating on? You’ve no idea what it’s like to live in a country where every day there is a very real risk of contracting covid despite restrictions.

What’s Australia had 29k cases and not even a thousand deaths? I mean kudos to your government but bollocks do you have any concept of the worst case scenario.

Lockdowns of whatever length are hard and awful, but it takes a special kind of blockheadedness to tell a predominantly UK forum to fucking educate themselves.[/quote]
Yep, this. It feels like we've been in lockdown for most of a flipping year. I know we haven't really and in the SW where I am I have been lucky to have periods of relative normality sprinkled in amongst the hell. But fuck me, it's been a year.

I looked at my Twitter last night and saw that I was tweeting about the situation in Wuhan on the 1st Feb 2020. That made me sad, how long this has been going on. Every time I remember there is a pandemic I also remember how badly our country has handled things and feel a wave of horror and embarrassment to be British. It's been fucking grim, especially watching the rest of the world do stuff we can't do - like the ultimate FOMO.

[quote TryingNotToPanicOverCovid]@BlackAmericanoNoSugar so sorry to hear about your niece :([/quote]
Thank you TryingNotToPanicOverCovid, she was a wonderful young woman. It was a death that would have happened anyway but just made a bit more shit for everyone else by occurring in a pandemic.

Sorry to hear that.

Part of my retirement plans were to go and stay with my cousins in Melbourne. I saw him sometimes when I went to see mum (near Sydney) but haven’t been since mum died 10 yrs ago. I was waiting for retirement to go for a long trip to Australia to visit all the cousins and my sister. Not sure when that will be and haven’t seen DD for nearly two years as she got caught up in NZ whilst travelling and couldn’t get home. Still there as manage to get second visa. I wouldn’t want them to get on a plane just now and I certainly don’t want to. I can’t believe it has taken the Government here this long to stop/ quarantine travel. Borders closed now but letting others in from around the world and everything and every time too slow. At least Australia and NZ have it right. Very difficult to know what to do I can appreciate but if other countries are getting things right follow them. DD &DP were restricted to 5km ( nearest shops were 5km) and stopped to check why they were out and that was last year. Here we have bloody people camping and mixing with people for a ‘ holiday’ caused an accident and only fined £200. Mountain rescuer going to have life changing injuries because of their stupidity. Last year loads of people going to second homes but not staying there going out and about mixing with local community and spreading it around other counties. I don’t understand the mentality and then complain because we are in another long lock down. The numbers here are shocking. We know several people who have had it and had one person we know die from it recently and he had been so careful. Young people being left with long term health problems and still people not keeping there distance in shops etc. Breaking rules.

It is hard but we need to do it. I hope I live long enough to see my sister and the cousins. My cousin in Melbourne is ten years older but we were very close when I was a child so I hope to see him sometime. In the meantime we all need to stay safe.

You can’t blame Melburnians for believing their lockdown was the hardest, most brutal (eye roll) in the world because our one eyed media kept telling them it was. Honestly you should have read the self congratulatory opinion pieces that dominated our media after the Victorian lockdown was over. Apparently the entire world owes them a debt of gratitude!

The downside of small case numbers and excellent track and trace is that the public can be told exactly where an outbreak started. And people seize on this to find someone to blame. The favoured culprit is of course another Australian state but failing that it’s hotel security guards shagging the guests or some poor bloody traveller with a nebuliser. The story of the illegal nebuliser is only a “working theory” so not proven at all, yet the whole city is attacking the poor person who used it, who by the way is now in intensive care on a ventilator fighting for life with covid. But hey, as long as there is someone to blame!

Australia has done really well managing the pandemic but we’ve thrown away a lot of our humanity in the process.

Also my sympathies BlackAmericanoNoSugar.

I think the Christmas respite was a huge mistake. Also to be honest I think the push to get schools back on March 8 will also prove to be a mistake (no matter how desirable). 3 weeks later we will be back in lockdown i am sure of it. But I am truly exhausted with it all and can see no end to this at all.

Yeah, sorry and all that but it’s five days! As other posters have said we’ve been like this for 5 weeks now with no official plan to get out of this in sight. Seems a bit insensitive to all of us in UK

Everyone talks about Melbourne and their lockdowns but most European countries have gone through the same thing.

The UK has been in and out of tiers and lockdowns for a year.

At the beginning of the pandemic in Spain, children weren’t allowed to leave the house for 7 weeks. Not even 2 hours of exercise a day like in Aus. 7 WEEKS where you couldn’t set foot on the street unless you had an essential reason (exercise wasn’t one). And most people live in flats, not houses. Children, teenagers, elderly, all inside for almost two months. My 15yo brother was terrified of leaving the flat for an hour in mid-May when it was finally allowed. He wasn’t mentally ready to go back on the street. It was horrible.

I live in Germany and everything closed at the end of October. Two days ago the lockdown was extended until mid-March. So we’ll have had almost 6 months of no shops, restaurants, gyms, theatres. Including 3 months of no school.

I’ll take 5 days right now.

Just spoke to a colleague in Melbourne who's feeling the same as you. You can get through this just as we are - stay strong and know that you're keeping others safe. Sending good wishes.

Australia has done really well managing the pandemic but we’ve thrown away a lot of our humanity in the process.

I'm amazed about what Victorians have tolerated for handfuls of cases. I'm not sure we could have repeated their approach in the UK without riots.

Read the OP’s explanation, read this article in guardian

www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/12/coronavirus-victoria-covid-melbourne-lockdown-restrictions-rules-covid19-explained-mask-exercising-what-you-need-to-know

Really don’t get why 5 days of this is somehow so much more draconian than what UK has to do, for much much longer.

So I’ve “educated myself” and though I’m sympathetic to anyone in lockdown (as I am), I cannot see why we have to demonstrate particular sympathy to those in Melbourne.

I’m not a Pom btw (but my not statistically meaningful experience is that Aussies are pretty whingy too)

Remaker that’s a v interesting post

I can imagine the debt of gratitude part. And the rest.

[quote groovergirl]@Lindy2 If I could send you the 40-degree scorcher predicted for this Sunday, I would!

Seriously, I wish all of you in the UK some lovely sunshine, some Covid containment and an end to the restrictions that are making your lives hell.

Thanks for the good discussion here tonight, everyone. You've given me a much better insight. Off now to do some panic buying of TP and pasta, and feeling lucky I can still do that. [/quote]
That wouldn’t be nice groover they don’t want our 40 degrees If you had a nice 26 and sunny day now...