Health authorities, Federal, State & Local Governments, News websites, School authorities, Policing, Sporting bodies – all providing their own (sometimes conflicting) advice. Total cases, Active cases, Ongoing health impacts, Patient zero, Overseas sources Vs Community transmission, which are the numbers that really matter?
The Information Overload
Press releases, daily briefings and some leaders seeming to embrace the newfound influence they have (and that people are listening to them for a change).
What can you do? I can walk through a park to get a coffee, but can I sit down to drink it?
Where can you go? Can I only go to a park if its near home?
Who can you see? I can see a friend if I live with them but can’t see my family who I don’t live with, depending on how many visitors there are!
What’s an essential service? Bottle shops are busier than ever!
The Tennis centre is open, but can I play tennis?
It all probably depends on which state you live in!
You aren’t expected to teach your children. But they are expected to perform as if they were being taught.
It’s a time of great confusion for many people out there. And rightly so! Never before has there been so much access to so much information during an event such as COVID-19.
The back-to-back procession of Australian State Premier’s press conferences all saying pretty much the same thing is enough to make anyone change the channel. Yes, you need to show leadership but there is also the political legacy in the background, always a part of that game.
Australia has done extremely well in navigating this unprecedented pandemic, but it could have been more united. There is no difference with offices, hotels, schools or gyms in Queensland or Western Australia, New South Wales or Victoria. Are the authorities and their areas of control the cause of the confusion, with each having the power to enforce different rules? Restrictions have been well adhered to but sometimes it feels like we are being warned by the teacher about not talking to my neighbour during class. This is a true test of our political system and I can’t help thinking that there may be changes ahead.
As restrictions are eased and things begin to reopen, will everything become more or less confusing? Probably confusion will reign is my guess, although with so few new cases occurring and people generally trying to do the right thing, guidance rather than enforcement will have much higher likelihood of acceptance in the community.
Human Connection
So, what are we all looking forward to the most?
Catching up with family for a BBQ
Going to see your favourite sporting team on a Friday night after meeting some friends before the game for a few beers.
Heading out to a pub or restaurant for dinner and drinks or Beer o clock on a Friday with another person!
Driving down to the Gold Coast for the weekend and rediscovering that my Nexus isn’t within my own house.
Keeping fit by going for an early morning gym session or having a hit of tennis.
Leaving the house to go to work (for a change of scenery, not necessarily the work part).
Networking at a conference and discovering new places and new favourite restaurants and bars.
Meeting and having a beer with some fellow travellers transiting through far off places – which I did prior to the restrictions in Terminal 3 at LAX (outside the Shake Shack if my memory serves me right).
All of the above are about human connection. Online platforms such as Zoom, Teams, Skype (if anyone still uses skype) are effective right now as its great technology and will be used extensively by both business and private users for a long time. But there is also the risk of video conferencing overload – if you have back to back Zoom meetings too many days in a row it’s the last thing you will want to do when you return to work. I have been in some really effective Zoom meetings as well as some very awkward ones.
Video conferencing is a great supplement to face-to-face meetings but you just can’t replace the connection and intimacy or comradeship that comes from physically being in the same space as others.
People have basic instinctual needs such as food, shelter, water which they need to survive. These are being met by most people at the moment.
I believe that in addition to these needs, personal connection to others is of vital importance for survival of the soul. So, above all else, this is what we should be most looking forward to!
