Thursday, 4th February, 2021
The Premier’s press conference brought good news. Day 4 of the lockdown and day 4 of zero cases. Yet another “doughnut day”, as was yesterday. The number of people getting tested has dropped to just over 7,000 with a call for as many people who are feeling symptoms to go and get tested.
Scraping the barrel for news
By now, I am scraping the barrel of what to update you on. Pottering from room to room soon loses its lustre. The most exciting thing that happened was the ramen noodle bowl I had for lunch. Priced at $1.50 each, I bought two in Woolworths, but am not sure I will be able to eat the second. My mouth still feels on fire hours after I had it for lunch. When it says “hot” on the side I didn’t think this meant, “blow your head off”, hot.
The evening got a little more interesting, with another press conference from the Premier. The good news is that “subject to no new cases overnight” we are on track to come out of lockdown. Businesses are now on alert and ready to throw open their doors to a very eager public.
Friday, 5th February, 2021
Day 5 of the lockdown. And to be honest, it has been ok. Working from home again, which was easy enough to adapt to, after the experience of the last year. When I reflect on the week, one thing I have been mindfully aware of is, I have felt an increase in cognitive fatigue. The impact of constant video calls does take its toll mentally and I have been sharing some hints and tips with work on how we might better manage this.
The good news
Today’s press conference from the Premier was almost on time, unlike earlier in the week when we had quite lengthy delays. To me that suggests that the issues are getting clearer and this was borne out by the update from Mark McGowan today.
Once again, we have zero local transmission cases of COVID from 8307 tests. We have achieved our goal, and the big dog confirmed that this means that we will transition out of lockdown from 6pm this evening. Great news for the whole of Perth, Peel, and the South West region. I had to smile when the Premier was asked where he would be at 6pm. “At my desk, probably”, was his quick response.
Transition Measures
Yesterday I hinted at the transition measures that might remain and we now know what these will be. Once the lockdown lifts at 6pm, and until Sunday 14th February, mask wearing outside remains mandatory. Even when we are in gyms, pubs, cafes, and bars. When asked how people could be expected to wear a mask whilst enjoying a meal, the official advice is “use common sense”.
We will also see a brief introduction of the 4sq metre rule for numbers of people allowed on business premises. This will have a large impact on small businesses that just don’t have the room to make that viable. Thankfully it is only for a week.
Lunch update
Being Friday, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch from an excellent local Indonesian cafe, Chinta. I am very pleased to report that the “express lunch” takeaway offering of Nasi Goreng was much better than yesterday’s budget noodles.
Today, we heard that the bushfires claimed 5 more houses overnight but in better news the fires do seem to be coming under control through the tireless work of the firies. Let’s hope this good news continues through the weekend. With heavy rain forecast for Saturday and Sunday things should only get better.
As the clock ticks around to 6pm I can already see increased foot traffic outside. I can sense the anticipation. People must be heading to the village and the re-opened restaurants. We will just have a chilled evening at home but will raise a glass to all West Australians who have come together this week and collectively got us through this.
Cheers, fellow sandgropers!
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