COMING OUT OF MY SHELL
I have observed snails in the garden and how quickly they retract into the shell on hearing footsteps. I have also observed Lizards in the garden and even cockroaches freeze on hearing human foot steps and dashing off into the nearest crevice to hide. Not any more.
The roles seem to have reversed now. Snails in the garden don't seem to care any more as we humans are now in hiding 24/7.
The only adventure these eight weeks was my walks with my Golden Boy Bailey.
Bailey Sulking making me Sad
We just walked up and down our own street and Bailey was not happy. He wanted to walk round the Block, to say hello to his half a dozen buddies and I had no way of explaining to him what was going on and what "Corona" was. He sits at home sulking not knowing why we have not taken him to the Dog Park every evening to meet his friends. How I wish Bailey could speak.
Friends ask me what is Australia doing differently from other Countries that we have been least affected. A Million Dollar Question for which I have no Clear answers.
In Comparison with other Democracies Australia is no different. we have the Central Govt giving general Guidelines for the nation and each State in turn fine tuning the Covid 19 Strategies to suit based on number of Cases reported in the state and number of deaths etc. There is a lot of confusion and debate amongst politicians who are weighing economy vs welfare and death toll and medical experts are divided on whether to lock down totally eliminating the spread of the virus or endorsing the herd immunity as followed by some countries and paying the Price. The truth is No one really knows. Everyone is out guessing the Other.
Personally it is obvious to me that the Winter in the Northern hemisphere was the main factor that has affected China, Russia, America, Canada, England and Europe. Thankfully the summer has started up north and hopefully wll assist recovery.
My gut feel is that Countries North and South of Tropic of Capricorn 23.5 Deg S and Tropic of Cancer 23.5 Deg N, have been least affected in general by Covid 19 and this includes Central and South America, most of Africa and India and Half of Australia. Take a look at the map below
as for Australia and New Zealand we should not speak too soon as Winter in the Southern Hemisphere officially starts only on 1st of June. and we call it the Flu Season.
This means the risk of letting our guard down too soon could be a fatal miscalculation by Economic and Political Pundits wanting to save economy and jobs with Australia bleeding by about Aud $ 5 billion a Day because of the lock down.
Thank God Morons are not hoarding Toilet Paper and food stuff any more downunder. All imported items like Italian Tomatoes and Indian Spices and frozen veggies from Fiji etc have dried up as there are no ships coming in. Petrol: who wants petrol these days". It is so cheap but where do you go in your jalopies. Most cars are sitting on the streets and gaining dirt, dust and rust. Petrol Pump queues are an unknown and are sitting empty.
Super markets were initially gouging the population by hiking meat and seafood prices; but as I expected with all restaurants closed all the meat and seafood suppliers have dropped prices by 50% ie if you know where to find these suppliers. As a Consequence meat is not moving fast enough in supermarkets and they have now started to lower their prices too.
When I went to see my doctors on 7th of March, people were going about as always. It was strange to see people wearing blue, white and pink masks and looking suspiciously at each other but there was no safe distancing etc. The Food Court in Westfield shopping centre was packed and the car Park was almost full.
Yesterday there were hardly any cars in the car park, only a handful of outlets were open in the food court. all seating had been removed meaning no one could sit down in the food court and eat. People who were there were all standing away from each other unless from same family like father mother and kids. all my Fav Coffee shops had closed.
Today I noticed a huge difference. Only one in Ten were wearing masks. No one looked nervous, the car park was full.
I had to see my Doctor (GP) yesterday. So I phoned the day before and had to answer a number of questions to see if I had Corna Viral infections. When convinced I was OK receptionist gave me an appointment. The clinic that used to overflow with people had all seats removed and few left there were spaced far apart. I saw my GP had a Chat had blood tests done and got a referral to see my Physiotherapist, at the same time today. Within 24 hours the scenario was totally different. There were heaps of people in Westfield as well as the medical centre as if the Corona Curse was Over. Occasionally I saw someone wearing a mask like I did. Most were not.
(As an aside I have to tell you that both my GP and Cardiologist and Pace Maker specialist are Tamilians but born in Australia and UK and know only a few words of tamil Just like our son Anand. My Pillars of Support and I salute them for their Professionalism. I also owe my gratitude to my Aud $20K Medtronics PaceMaker with a Remote Control I can use at home to Transmit the Pace Maker Readings to my Cardiologist and Medtronics if I think something is Wrong. How Cool is that ?)
I came home wondering if People are letting their guard down too soon. A big worry but only time will tell.
Any one having a few Corona like symptoms are asked by their doctors to go to special Corona Testing Drive By Clinics like was set up in South Korea. Many Pathology Labs are Testing patients for Corona Infections. Like the Clinical labs, I go to.
All this is just my personal opinion and even my wife and son may disagree but that is the nature of the beast; I am referring to Corona not any one else :-)
