Here we go again! Today, we have been notified that lockdown 5.0 has been extended another week in Victoria. However, this time, we are not the only Australian state going through lockdown. How did we get here?

Last month in June, the Delta variant cluster seeded from an airport limousine driver in Sydney and spread quickly through the state. For the past year, the politicians have been calling NSW the “gold standard” state and yet, the virus managed to escape and spread. There are currently over 1200 active cases in NSW and 5 deaths related to the current outbreak. With daily active cases in the high double digits, further restrictions have been introduced to Greater Sydney and Regional NSW to curb the spread.

Unfortunately though, the restrictions were introduced too late and the virus jumped across state borders into both Victoria and South Australia. On 15th July, new restriction levels were reintroduced across Victoria to slow the spread of COVID-19. There are only five legitimate reasons for us to leave our homes: shopping for necessary goods and services; care and caregiving; exercise; authorised work and permitted study and COVID vaccination and testing. We must also stay within 5km of our home for shopping and exercise. When we leave our home, we must wear face masks indoors and outdoors.

As this is our fifth lockdown in Melbourne, we should be lockdown experts. Last Thursday, the school sent the kids home with their school iPads. Friday morning, their school pivoted back to online learning without a stumble. Karate moved back to online Zoom classes seamlessly too. However, the karate grading that was scheduled for this weekend has been postposed once again. This is the second postponement, as it was originally scheduled for the first weekend of June and had to be rescheduled due to lockdown 4.0. Fingers crossed, the kids will get to do their karate grading in the dojo soon.

Unlike the first two lockdowns, this time, I did not feel the need to pantry fill. Instead, I have been working on filling my emotional cup. On the personal front, the last two months have been extremely challenging for me. My father was hospitalised and with multiple lockdowns, I have not been able to visit him readily. I understand the need to keep him and everyone at the hospital safe but it still doesn’t make it easy for the family. My mother and mother in-law both live further than 5km away, so we have resorted back to FaceTime to stay in touch. At the moment, I feel like a member of a circus - juggling all my responsibilities and commitments and being spread super thin. I know that this is a similar story for my families during the lockdowns.

The newspapers state that Victorians are suffering from lockdown fatigue. They are correct! Before this latest lockdown, we had just exited a short lockdown aka lockdown 4.0 and restrictions were just being eased. Then suddenly, we were sent back into lockdown with the latest Delta cluster. On a positive note, due to the recent clusters, the vaccine rollout was quickly opened up to my age group. My friends and I took advantage of this and we managed to secure our Pfizer shots. Other than the standard side effects of chills and a sore arm, my vaccine experience was a non-event - thankfully.

Realistically though, unless a greater number of the population get vaccinated, I can’t see how we can move forward and stop the cycle of lockdowns. I am looking forward to the day when snap lockdowns become a thing of the past or at least used less frequently, and when we can plan a family holiday. The next few weeks will be interesting, I will be closely watching the real life experiment unfolding in England. Is 60% plus vaccination rate enough to avoid burdening the hospital system? Can our lives return to pre-COVID? What is the right level of herd immunity?