A lot has happened since Australia went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and implemented a series of strict social distancing rules. Not only has there been a waterfall of news and events seemingly on a daily basis – which have ranged from the necessary to the completely ridiculous – these rules have since had a major impact on basically everyone in the country.
With Australia still a while away before the COVID-19 social distancing rules are lifted and things slowly inch back towards normality, we wanted to know how folks were handling everything at the moment, so we asked a bunch of people how the lockdown has affected their lives and their work.
Speaking of COVID-19, the GOAT team talk about the hilarious way Pornhub is contributing to relief efforts on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
Some names have been changed for privacy reasons and are marked with an asterisk.
Robin* – Video Games Industry
How has COVID-19 affected your life and your work?
To give a bit of context, I’m Chinese. Even before coronavirus panic was a “thing” in Australia, my relatives from China had bombarded me with (often fake) tips on how to prevent the spread of the virus and my parents obviously bought into the panic.
I’m lucky enough to be able to work remotely, so I’ve just set up a little station in the study and use video apps to hold meetings. No change there. Otherwise, it’s been frustrating not being able to do group sports or activities outside but there are plenty of other things to do at home. I don’t think I’m getting bored anytime soon and I could get used to living like this.
What do you think of Australia’s reaction to COVID-19?
Really disappointed at all the xenophobic and racist people I’ve come across, the panic buyers, and especially those not taking social distancing seriously.
The government response has been surprisingly decent, though more so from the States than Federal. A lot is following in the footsteps of NZ, who have done remarkably well. Politicians could be more direct and clearer in their communication, though – lots of conflicting messages from various sources makes information hard to digest for the general public.
What do you think will happen over the next few months?
If we have people still not adhering to social distancing measures carefully, then we’ll all be confined inside for even longer. The curve will only flatten/drop if we have 80 percent or more adherence minus essential workers and healthcare staff – you rock.
If people act responsibly, then slowly as the rate of infection drops, one by one we can start lifting restrictions – not all at once, otherwise it’ll just shoot back up again.
Suzan Mutesi – Actress/ Singer/ Influencer/ Model
How has COVID-19 affected your life and your work?
It’s affected me quite a bit. A lot of projects were shut down because of COVID-19. But because I wear so many hats, it means I could do something else, like influencer work. Having projects be cancelled also made me become more creative with what I have, what I can do, and new ways to keep making content.
I enjoy time alone but I also enjoy time outside with others. Initially I was freaked out about all the news and reports about COVID-19. But I have empathy for people who are having it tougher than me, like the homeless. It definitely made me appreciate the little things more as the virus doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor, and it’s forced everyone to work together.
What do you think of Australia’s reaction to COVID-19?
I think the government and the PM are doing the best they can and I can’t blame them for what they’ve done. They’re helping to guide the country through a tough time. The fines may be a bit much but they’re a guide to help us behave responsibly and get through all this.
What do you think will happen over the next few months?
My prediction is a breakthrough in the next two months for a vaccine or cure or something. Hopefully by six months, things will start opening up again. But I think it’ll take at least a year for things to start getting back to normal. It’ll be interesting to see how world leaders and people in prominent positions will react after this all settles.
Alfonso* – Full-Time IT Student/Part-Time Retail Worker
How has COVID-19 affected your life and your work?
As COVID-19 got more serious, my employer has made the decision to close for an indefinite amount of time with unpaid leave, unless we choose to use our annual leave. It has affected my income so it required readjusting and changing my budget on a lot of everyday things.
Uni hasn’t changed much except for the swap to online lectures and labs. The only exceptions are very specific subjects that require special hardware. Other than that, the biggest impact has been the lack of social interactions.
What do you think of Australia’s reaction to COVID-19?
Panicking buying things just doesn’t help as it creates a domino effect of panic buyers. Isolation has caused a lot of agitation for many who have had to make a large change in their lifestyle, which goes against the intrinsic nature of having habits as a human.
The majority of face mask wearers are idiots. Most of them get false information or believe anything below a N95 mask helps, while it realistically doesn’t. There are some people who wear it to prevent themselves from touching their faces though.
What do you think will happen over the next few months?
Not much will happen in the next few months as long as infected people still show. It will take roughly six months after the COVID-19 lockdown before any big changes will happen.
Duncan* – Year 6 Primary School Teacher
How has COVID-19 affected your life and your work?
Over the last four weeks of term, we saw a drastic drop in attendance numbers as more and more government announcements were made. By the time the government urged parents to keep their kids home, I only had one student in my class.
Since then we’ve been moving our systems across to educate our students in some form of online capacity. However, I am a teacher in a low social-economic area so we also need to work through ways of educating students who may not have access to the internet or a computer/tablet.
What do you think of Australia’s reaction to COVID-19?
Overall, families and parents seem to have taken on government advice immediately. From a school community perspective, it was quite incredible to see how swiftly parents removed their children from classrooms as more social distancing rules were imposed.
What do you think will happen over the next few months?
My gut feeling is that school will remain open to essential workers and online learning will be available for all other students throughout Term 2 and 3. (Maybe longer, but let’s hope not.)
Riley* – Rhythmic Gymnastics Coach
How has COVID-19 affected your life and your work?
Quite massively but I can’t complain as I still have a job. I am currently coaching via an online platform as we’re not allowed to use the gym. This has resulted in a lot of additional work to alter our training programs and making them lounge room appropriate. Some gymnasts are unable to attend due to issues such as space and access to tech. This has lead to lower enrollments and a range of new challenges.
What do you think of Australia’s reaction to COVID-19?
I think Australia could do more. They should have shut down straight away rather then having rules that no one really followed. This made it really difficult for small businesses to plan because no decision was really made. Also, the hoarding was crazy, that should have never happened!
What do you think will happen over the next few months?
I think we are going to be like this for the next month at least! It is scary because everything is so uncertain. So many people have no income and this may not change for months.
Andy Trieu – Host/Producer at SBS PopAsia
How has COVID-19 affected your life and your work?
Since COVID-19 began, we’ve seen huge reduction in pop stars visiting Australia. Anything related to entertainment news and music releases has been extremely slow, so it’s made things much more difficult. The office is almost empty and I’m having to work from home more these days.
What do you think of Australia’s reaction to COVID-19?
I think Aussies are taking a hold of it and staying strong. There’s so much news and change happening that it can be hard to keep up though.
What do you think will happen over the next few months?
People will have to adapt to this lifestyle because I think it’s going extend to longer than we think, but who knows.
David – Criminal Lawyer
How has COVID-19 affected your life and your work?
The courts have completely changed. All hearings/trials have been suspended and every other type of court matter is only via AVL link. But having said that, I’m lucky enough to have a government job so I’m a bit more sheltered from losing my job, but my role has changed over and over again as the nature of court work has changed repeatedly.
Socially, it’s been very difficult to essentially lose my social life. It’s been difficult to exercise with climbing gyms closing and any outside exercise discouraged.
What do you think of Australia’s reaction to COVID-19?
The response was very slow and very poorly executed. Policies and legislative changes were passed through parliament with limited thought or oversight.
What do you think will happen over the next few months?
I honestly have no idea.
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