Introduction aka Nobody Told Me There'd Be Days Like This

- March 24, 2020

In late 2019 / early 2020 the whole world caught a cold. That shouldn't really have been a problem, but because this cold virus was (a) extremely contagious and (b) came via animals (so our immune systems had no infrastructure to deal with it), within a very short time it had spread round the world and was killing people at an alarming rate. Most people just had a fever and a cough but others - particularly people over 60 and people with existing medical conditions like cancer, diabetes, emphysema etc - developed acute respiratory failure, and the world soon found out we didn't have enough respirators and hospital beds to save them. And so society had to close down as much as possible. Many of us lost our jobs and incomes, national economies spiralled, people panic-bought all the toilet paper and hand sanitiser, and we were asked to isolate ourselves at home to stop the spread of the virus.

This is my diary of isolation. I'm Caroline, and in non-plague life I am a tap-dance teacher in Melbourne Australia. My partner Steve is an aviation engineer and as I start this diary he is still working but that will change because people won't be travelling for much longer. (There's *some* work because we need to freight stuff, but we don't know how much and for how long) Our kids are teenagers, Jake is 19 and Sean is 16. Jake is a university student studying landscape architecture and working part-time as a gymnastics coach, Sean is a high-school student in Year 11 and a mad-keen soccer player. We also have a Burmese cat called Basil, he is very doted upon. In March 2020, university is now on-line only, gymnastics and soccer and tap-dance are cancelled for the foreseeable future but school is still happening (children are allegedly less likely to spread this virus because they rarely develop symptoms).

My parents are still alive and are in the very-high at risk group via their age, and I'm very worried about losing them. My sister and partner are photographers and they will face extreme financial hardship if this goes on for too long. My brother should keep his job so might be okay financially but he is a single father to 2 boys, one of whom is autistic, and lives far away in Canberra. If he catches it badly, what will happen to his family? My friends are losing or will lose their jobs and I don't know how well our government will be able to look after people when all the money disappears. I have many beautiful tap students and I don't want to lose any of them either. The logistics of this pandemic are mind-blowing. We may not be able to help our friends and families. If people die we may not be able to come together for funerals. There are so many things to worry about, and watching the news and social media only makes it worse.

We have to hope that we can contain the spread here in Australia as much as possible. To do this we have to stay home pretty much all the time now; we're allowed out for exercise (walking/cycling etc) as long as we don't mingle, and to get supplies. At the moment it's just stressful, but things could get very bad very quickly, and nobody wants that. We should only go out if it's necessary. ONLY GO OUT IF IT'S NECESSARY.