case total lockdown australias lessons world

“It was at 5pm in the afternoon and sitting outside,” she said. She has been to a restaurant twice in the last 12 months.Ĭlaire Kearns wants the positive things about the pandemic – the way it has allowed us to easily work, learn and play online – to stay in place as an option for people like her. They’re missing big family events, including her uncle’s funeral and her sister’s birthday party, and for her own 40th, she stayed at home. While a lot of people have stopped checking the daily numbers, many immunocompromised Australians still count cases.ĭe Kretser lives with her husband and daughter. Last week, Covid Live data showed cases had jumped 37% because of the more transmissible variant. “Not being able to give a two-year-old a hug. There’s a new baby in her family and she has not been able to hold it. She described how if she went out to the park or to meet someone at a cafe it had to be close to home, so she did not have to use the toilet. Eat at an outdoor table, and make sure you have a mask on all the time except eating and drinking.”Īnother woman, who lives in Melbourne but did not want to be named because there had been tension in the family over Covid-safe behaviour, said she had celebrated her birthday with one friend, in the back yard, with a fan blowing air away from her. “I would encourage people to spend a lot of time outdoors, you don’t have to be locked up inside. A lot of people interpret that as staying at home. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Doing all the things we know work to prevent Covid,” Toole said. “Always wear high-quality respirator mask indoors and avoid crowded settings. “In normal people, with a normal immune system, a fourth dose doesn’t add much protection, it just brings it back to the same level of the third, but in immunocompromised people it brings it up quite dramatically.”Įven with a fourth dose though, those at high risk should take precautions, he said. “Fourth doses have been shown to be quite effective,” Toole said. For some, the worry of catching Covid does not impinge on enjoying freedoms they haven’t had consistently for two years – while others are forced to live careful lives, waiting out the pandemic.īurnet Institute Associate Prof Mike Toole said there are about 200 conditions that could render someone at high risk – and that the best protection is the vaccine. Millions more Australians are in high-risk categories – they have asthma, high blood pressure, or are simply over 70.

It’s a bad deal for me and people like me.”

It’s not going to be fun or in any way OK. She said it’s “not a big ask” but is nervous about what that might mean for her exposure. Her employee has asked her to come in two days a week. “From my perspective, it’s work where it becomes an issue,” she said. If she is seeing a friend, they will meet outside. Jones lives alone, only goes to the shops once a week, and always wears an N95 mask. “If a cold can put me out for six weeks, what the fuck is Covid going to do to me?” The last time she got a common cold it went for six weeks and while she doesn’t think Covid will kill her, it could take her months to recover. She has rheumatoid arthritis and takes drugs that suppress her immune system. She said her spreadsheet “is a bit silly” but she needs to track the virus. “Immunocompromised individuals who have received three primary doses of a Covid-19 vaccine are also recommended to have a booster dose in line with the timing for the general population,” it said.

The Department of Health would not provide the exact numbers of how many people have had their fourth dose. The vaccines offer less protection, and some of them are being encouraged to have their fourth dose now before winter begins. Either disease or medication has weakened their immune system and they are more vulnerable to getting severely sick or dying if they catch Covid. There are roughly 500,000 “severely immunocompromised” Australians across the country, according to the federal health department.

Hiti de Kretser missed her uncle’s funeral, deeming the risk of catching Covid too great.Īt-risk Australians across the country are increasingly worried due to growing case numbers of the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron and the incoming approach of winter with very few health restrictions remaining.Ĭancer patients, transplant recipients, people on immunosuppressive drugs and other vulnerable members of the public are stuck in a perpetual lockdown as the rest of the country tries to forget it is still in the thick of a pandemic.

Case total lockdown australias lessons world