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.

@LimitIsUp

Australian National pride

Versus

British National pride

Who knew this would be so contentious. I am not saying that one approach is good and the other bad, just that it is what it is, and these cultural characteristics partly explain some of the overly negative media reporting and exaggeration re non compliance in the UK 🤷‍♀️

Hmm I think that research about Australia might be a bit out of date? No way Dick Smith would be our favourite brand any more, especially since his stores all went broke LOL (not that he owned them any more they were just branded with his name).

And pride in the Australian flag as a symbol is definitely on the decline. For a time people would wrap themselves in it, especially on days like Australia Day. Now there is a growing movement against marking the day when British settlers arrived and brought disease and violence to our First Nations people. My teenage kids will only refer to it as Invasion Day and there is no bunting or flags or parties at our house.

So I would say that the situation in Australia is very similar to what is outlined in your article about Britain. Younger people are increasingly uncomfortable with the concept of national pride when they see so much that needs to be improved. Wrapping yourself in the flag and having a few beers while you talk about how great Australia is, increasingly is something that is done by racists and rednecks.

That's very interesting Remaker, thanks for that insight

@Hardbackwriter

Mine have had three tests each , the whole family had to get tested each time, and our entire household had to isolate while waiting for the results- that does not seem the case in the UK.

My toddler has also been tested three times and yes, the whole household isolates while waiting for results.

Again, why are you trying to explain the situation and measures in place somewhere you do not live to people who do actually live there? It's incredibly arrogant.

Christ.

I'm trying to be sympathetic and reflecting on what I have read a across multiple news sources and from Mumsnetmre the UK and trying to clarify some of the positions this thread has enunciated.
I have also emphasised that things have may have changed in the UK.
I have blatantly outlined our failures and criticised our country as much as yours. I have admitted we are fucking lucky comparatively to the UK.
If that is your take away - good luck to you.

@TryingNotToPanicOverCovid

I think coming onto an Aussie s site and complaining about a shed fire while you have bush fires might be a comparion maybe? Not that the shed fire isn't real or a problem but like the ring thing above - appropiate audience!

I don’t know if you went into an Aussie site and complained about your shed burning down and everyone knew that last year your house had burned down, I doubt anyone would be like “who cares my whole town burnt down”. I’d hope the response would be more like “ man that’s shit, sorry about your shed”

I don’t know if you went into an Aussie site and complained about your shed burning down and everyone knew that last year your house had burned down, I doubt anyone would be like “who cares my whole town burnt down”. I’d hope the response would be more like “ man that’s shit, sorry about your shed”

Not if at the time you wrote about your shed burning down, even if your house burned last year, the people you were writing to were in the middle of watching their town burn down having also lost their own houses last year. Back to ring theory: pick your audience and dump out, not in.

If you're trying to come across as sympathetic then you are really missing your mark

@Angrymum22

It has been proved, by studying the genome of Covid-19, that there was no patient zero in the UK and that Covid entered the uk simultaneously through thousands of initial infections spread around the country. The strains that entered the country, and we have far more air hubs and ports than AS or NZ, predominantly originated in France, Italy and Spain. So we know exactly who to blame, the skiers and the elderly who spend January/February in Spain. We have also seen a strong seasonal pattern with Covid, and as we were late winter when it hit we had a massive disadvantage compared to the Southern Hemisphere.

This.... I mean Australia and New Zealand....kind of different ....

@AlecTrevelyan006

Problem is Aussie politicians describe the uk strain as hyper-infectious.

It all goes to prove that zero covid is nigh on impossible to achieve unless you shut off from everything forever.

Given that UK scientists and government also describe it as more infectious - whether it's 70% more infectious, or some other figure - it is more infectious! Which is a problem.

@RosieLemonade

How can they justify this level of disturbance for 13 cases. How unfortunate if you were getting married tomorrow.

Because it means we can live normally the rest of the time. I'm in NSW, and am holidaying with friends in a packed caravan park an hour and a half from home.

Lockdown is shit no matter where you are but some of the UK's rules must not be reported properly in Australia.

My kids have been off school since March apart from one term which they missed some of due to isolating. I haven't had anyone in my house since March apart from the man who fixed my tap and due to the rule of 6, as a family of 6 we weren't allowed to meet up with anyone else. During the summer and the only time we weren't in complete lockdown, I visited my parents on my own but not since.

I don't shop, we don't go on many walks due to the freezing weather, I've been furloughed and DH works from home so the 6 of us have spent most of the time since March in our house and garden.

I hope it’s just five days OP.

It’s shit for you in Aus. It’s shit for us here in the U.K.. it’s shit for the EU. Covid is just shit. I am exhausted.

It’s shit for you in Aus. It’s shit for us here in the U.K.. it’s shit for the EU. Covid is just shit. I am exhausted.

Surely this? It’s mostly just different kinds of shit, and everyone is entitled to feel whatever they feel about it.

Great posts @Wakeupalreadyand @eaglejulesk 👍🏻

@Wakeupalready
Thank you for your post. I really appreciate the time you took to write it. It’s informative and not combative like so many others on here. I feel like I’ve learnt a bit more about your situation over there, and the nuances, rather than just hearing “we’ve had a brutal lockdown”.

Yes, you’re right about us technically being able to have cleaners and people to mow our lawn (at least for some of it).

I have to say though, that because it is against the backdrop of very real risk of catching COVID, hardly anyone did it. Most of those people are out of work now and didn’t qualify for government grants. It’s very sad.

So the effect is the same for the vast majority of people.

Likewise, kids didn’t have to isolate for a runny nose or sore throat (symptoms here are fever ->37.8, a new cough or loss of smell/taste). Whole bubbles of up to 60 (maybe higher?) had to isolate if someone tweeted positive, which was all the bloody time! ( probably your bubbles had to isolate too? But because of case numbers I can’t imagine it was happening?)

Because COVID is so rife here, they’ve all been off an awful lot. 3 tests plus extra isolation periods between September and Christmas would be completely normal here for millions of children.

So it is as interesting to learn about the issues you are facing in your situation but despite your stricter rules, the effect is way worse on school attendance here.

I don’t think it is competitive misery for people to point out that 5 days is really nothing to worry about. And I think there has been sniping on both sides.

It’s a real insight to learn how badly done by Victorians and particularly those in Melbourne are feeling compared to the rest of Australia. If you’re terrified of the 5 days becoming another 100, I can completely understand the fear.

Back to the ring theory, I’m just going to paraphrase a couple of points back to you:

Please try to understand that people in the U.K. are feeling fragile.

The U.K. in the winter is a notorious misery.

Firstly, thank you @groovergirl for your subsequent posts.

Yes, in the UK it’s been shit. But it shouldn’t mean we can’t emphasise with others.

This has been one of the dangers of comparing responses by country.

Australia has had strict controls re international travel, but they have also had very strict controls re internal borders. We have not had that in the UK. Am sure people will throw up Joe Bloggs from London who got fined for travelling to a picturesque area, but that doesn’t compare. There was no opportunity in Australia to pop from a tier 4 to tier 2 area (UK example) for a pub meal etc.

Take stock of how you feel today. Read up on the Melbourne restrictions last year. Imagine how you’ll feel further down the line when you get slammed by it again - because it may well happen, short sharp lockdowns, in the autumn here.

Every bloody country is trying to find their way through this. Every country is going to make decisions that affect and piss people off.

To those in Australia (and New Zealand). You have been the focus of many arguments here in England “look at them, why aren’t we doing what they’re doing, they’ve got it sorted”. To those in England - it was obvious, from multiple posts on here over the last year, that it was difficult enough to have the tier system - so many saying they’d happily go from.Tier 4 to a lower tier to eat/shop etc. How would you feel with hard internal borders making that impossible?

On a lighter note, I’d swap an English winter for an Oz winter anytime!

TyrannyOfDistance

It’s shit for you in Aus. It’s shit for us here in the U.K.. it’s shit for the EU. Covid is just shit. I am exhausted.

“Surely this? It’s mostly just different kinds of shit, and everyone is entitled to feel whatever they feel about it.”

I think with a bit of time and perspective, people everywhere will be able to say this to eachother.

I’ve just thought of an analogy which is very personal to me.

My ds was born extremely tiny and early. He was on ITU for 7 weeks, ventilated, then 7 more weeks through HDU and special care, followed by three years on and off of pretty serious surgeries.

At points during the first few years, friends’ kids would have minor mishaps, illnesses and be in hospital. When I wasn’t in an immediate crisis, I had the perspective and emotional bandwidth to commiserate with them and truly empathise. Perhaps more so than most. Shitty things don’t feel less shitty just because someone else in the world is having a hard time of it.

But, when my ds was on life support, no one complained to me about their child having to go to A&E with a chest infection. They wouldn’t have been so callous. They might have mentioned it, but they wouldn’t have complained about it. And I can honestly say, I wouldn’t have been able to offer any sensible support.

I realise this is an international forum specifically about coronavirus. Everyone has a right to post. It is also not real life and an opportunity for people to get support but also to vent.

So I think it is a feature of the system not the people that we are getting this disconnect between U.K. and Australian posters.

The U.K. is on life support right now. So please don’t have a go at us for not being able to support your minor mishap or for pointing out it is a minor mishap.

Furries

Tiers/internal borders is an important point, but context is key. Australia is the size of Europe!!

Is it not more comparable to going from U.K. to another European country to see family? ( which very many of my friends haven’t been able to do.

Also tiers?? What are you talking about?? You couldn’t go from Tier 4 to anywhere else?? Leicester??? Manchester?? I had to go through roadblocks to get to work in Leicester over the summer?

Some people may have broken the rules but for the vast majority they were stuck in their county/city.

@Hardbackwriter

If you're trying to come across as sympathetic then you are really missing your mark

Largely I chose to respond because of the nastiness on this thread towards Australia. You pick one section that I used as basis of difference to hammer me, disregarding the rest of my fairly reasonable response. I agree with other posters that we must be receiving inadequate information re exact news regarding the criterion of British lockdowns and as I said I am very aware of the personal toll it is taking on individuals. One of my close friends is an ICU nurse in a Covid ward, her partner a dialysis specialist. They are broken and we are in contact weekly, another friend has spent a year locked down in London with his wife and two small children. They too are not handling well and cannot get back home.I get it. So all the the best with your cherry picking. Next time I'll post self flagellating myself for daring to come onto a website with international users.

There was no opportunity in Australia to pop from a tier 4 to tier 2 area (UK example) for a pub meal etc.
Not quite- with border closures, it’s not somewhere you’d pop to. Melb to the nsw border is 6-7 hours drive, then it’s another few hours to Sydney. Or an hours flight. So it does affect holidays and seeing family - obviously you feel it much more if you have family in another state. It doesn’t change where you’d go for a pub meal unless you live on the border. It’s bad for tourism as people are pretty nervous about booking though.
There was the ring of steel around melbourne, but melb urban area is very big. A 5k travel limit makes the ring of steel irrelevant for most people, as I’m in melb and I’d have to drive maybe 50k to get to the closest point of it! and there were permits for essential work. It protected regional areas from having to endure the shutdown. They can’t do that this time as they say they can’t get it in place quickly enough- lockdown was announced to start at midnight the same day.

@everythingthelighttouches see, we must be very different people, I guess.

To use your analogy, I simply can't imagine telling someone whose kid is in hospital that other people have it much worse and they should harden up and stop whinging 🤷🏼‍♀️.

I do hope your boy is ok these days.

Well done to all the posters (wherever they are based) calling out the racism and general nastiness of some of the replies on this thread. For everyone saying 'it's only 5 days', remember that Melbourne has had some of the strictest lockdown rules anywhere. None of us in the UK - wherever we live - has had to undergo anything like what happened to the people living in those notorious tower blocks in Melbourne who were unable to leave their flats and surrounded by armed guards. That must surely have affected levels of trust.

In countries like the UK which have very centralised government, it's hard to appreciate how different this is to countries like Australia and the US. It's easy to confuse national and local policies. In fact, sometimes we don't even recognise differences between England and other UK countries. That's why there are so many posts on MN telling people that they can't do x because of 'the rules', only for the poster to reply that they live in Scotland or Wales, where the rules are different.

For what it's worth, in the UK, we have had longer less strict lockdowns. In the summer, many people went on holiday within the UK or abroad and generally socialised a lot. Other people carried on as before. All our experiences are different. We mainly go by what we personally experience but even though I don't personally know somebody who had to go to work because they had Covid-19 symptoms because they couldn't afford not to be at work or were in fear of being sacked for not turning up I know they exist. I don't know anyone who has been working in intensive care either but this doesn't stop me from appreciating how hard it's been. Having criticised some of the replies on this thread, I have also learned things (not least that there were roadblocks out of Leicester).

The whole point of a pandemic is that almost everyone is affected. Just because we are affected in different ways shouldn't stop us from trying to be empathetic to others.

@LimitIsUp

I think there is also a cultural misunderstanding. Australians like to big themselves up (Yay for you, nothing wrong with that), whereas the British are more self deprecating and self critical hence reports of a small minority of rule breakers are magnified and give a distorted picture of reality

Oh rubbish, you are mixing your countries up.

I can on this post because I have friends in Melbourne, and I felt sympathetic. Op was reasonable to be worried. Others were reasonable to feel like 5 days is small.

But then seeing the absolutely clueless posts from some of the other Australian residents (mostly Victorian residents) on here is infuriating. Here in the UK we know it's been shit, but even at the height of it we were hearing about how others had it harder, like the children of Spain shut inside flats for 6 weeks or more. Apparently, though, either the Australian media or very selective reading of Mumsnet posts has led many of you to truly believe that it was harder to be locked down in a city where you and anyone you love had minimal risk of actually getting covid, where the rest of the national economy could keep going, and where you could emerge to a more normal life, was worse than anyone else.

Just because we weren't always being policed, didn't mean that most people broke the rules. So yes, dickheads had a slightly easier lockdown in some of the UK, but 90% of people followed guidance anyway, and most of the rest did their best around reasons like.poverty.

No we couldn't go from tier 4 to tier 2, and yes some cities were locked down

Travelling between states to see family is not the same as driving to the next town over (which most people didn't do even when it was guidance and not enforced). It's more like flying to Europe (which we also can't do).

It's not the UK individuals' fault that the government hasn't made some big missteps or that our country is a travel hub that isn't self-sufficient for food provision. People aren't intrinsically worse behaved than amazing Australians.

Even if you disbelieve all of this, remember that right now over 115,000 of our friends and family are dead of covid. Many others have been damaged by a year of late or cancelled medical treatment. Our children have missed a lot of a year of schooling. Many of us are unemployed or will know someone who is.

To use the shed analogy, it's more like telling someone whose town is on fire that you've got a spot fire in your shed. Good on you for getting to it early, wish we did! And we know that you had a partial fire earlier in the year, which wasn't nice.But then please don't go on it, and in particular please don't talk rubbish about all the reasons it was our fault and you did better and that's why we should feel sorry about your shed.

Great post @Wakeupalready