2020 was a tough year around the world with what seemed like a string of plagues ; Covid-19 being the worst.
In January the first cases were discovered in Wuhan, and then it proceeded to spread around the world in no time as the world was slow to react. By March, people were taking the threat more seriously and lockdown hit – pushing most businesses in Australia to close or for their employees to start working from home.
Panic buying led to shortages with memes circling the web about the lack of toilet rolls – with none to be found for months. Stockpiling of pastas and other dried goods also led to whole aisles to be bear in the supermarkets with supply unable to keep up with demand.
Over the first few weeks of the pandemic, businesses tried to stay open with a attitude of saying stick it to the virus although the number that closed for good likely won’t be known for some time. Gatherings were also stopped – not just in homes but at public spaces like beaches too which went from packed out to empty as restrictions rolled out.
Despite seeing the worst from people, there were some beacons of hops with nice to see initiatives aimed at supporting the most vulnerable and making sure that they had what they needed.
At the time the pandemic hit, I’d been living in shared accommodation and the house was divided with myself and the other guy following the rules whilst the girls kept dating and living life as usual – with so much unknown about the virus, I decided to move back into the city; enabling me to both avoid the commute and have my own space.
When I had started working from home, I had thought a few months of this and we’d be back at work again – thankfully the move provided me with a better workspace although it took far too long for me to embrace the change and kit out properly for WFH.
Who would have expected that almost a year later and the word “quarantine” is still a core part of our day to day vocabulary! Thankfully vaccines have now started to roll out and there is hope of getting closer to the freedoms we had previously – although it seems hard to imagine returning to that point in time. With mutations of the virus popping up over the world; all we can do is hope the worst is behind us…