Genea-life in Lockdown 1 NFHM Blogging Challenge

It is National Family History Month in Australia, and I have accepted a challenge to write about Genea-life in Lockdown. Blogging every Sunday in August will be an Olympic effort and tie in with the Olympic Games currently in action in Tokyo, Japan. 

 

We started our second lockdown here in Southeast Queensland on Saturday 31^st July 2021, coincidentally the 50th birthday of my oldest daughter. We couldn’t visit her for the day, as the area she lives in – Central Coast of NSW is considered part of Greater Sydney and has been on lockdown for a while. 

This nasty virus arrived in Australia on 25 January 2020 (my husband’s birthday) when a man returned from Wuhan, Hubei, China, to Victoria and it has spread since then. 

Its proper name is the novel coronavirus disease (COVID 19) and was caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). See microscopic image on right. Note the spikes that dorn the outer surface of the virus making it look like a corona surrounds the virion. 

It meant that Australian borders were closed to all non-residents on 20 March 2020 and returning residents were required to spend two weeks in supervised quarantine hotels from 27 March. Since then the different Australian states and territories have closed borders off and on, depending on the outbreaks.

Many new words have appeared in our conversations since all this has happened. ‘Social distancing’ meant keeping 1.5 metres apart from other people. There were posters up in all places about 'How to wash your hands' to prevent carrying germs. One suggestion was to wash them as long as it took you to sing the Happy Birthday song (which takes about the 20 seconds necessary). 

No hugs, no shaking hands, instead you could bump elbows. ‘Isolation’, ‘Self-isolating’ or ‘Iso’ was a type of quarantine, where people were told to stay put, in their homes. ‘Waves of infection’ occurred when the virus appeared again. ‘Cluster outbreaks’ meant ‘snap lockdowns’ for specific areas to contain the spread. 

Lockdown at Federation Square Melbourne, Victoria

There was a promotion for families to foster pets for the lockdown period. One of my granddaughters actually purchased a dog at the time and called him ‘Lockie’.  

Meet Lockie

‘Key Workers’ described those who provided an ‘essential service’, such as Healthcare workers, Police, Teachers, Childcare workers and Supermarket staff. A lot of confusion arose over the definition, and it differed between states and countries. 

When we are allowed to go out, we must register at the entrance to every shop, business, etc, and at the main entrance to shopping malls. Each state has a check-in app/lication for our mobile phones to use for this purpose. This will help in identifying 'close contacts' who were in the vicinity of any ‘Covid positives’. (I’m not sure how anyone without a mobile copes?) 

Initially, there was a lot of arguing about the use of masks as protection, but now it is mandatory to carry one with you and wear it when with other people. Hand sanitiser and disinfectant became a natural part of our lives, at home and at all businesses, etc. They sold out in peak times as did toilet rolls and fast foods from the grocers. Some people went overboard filling their shopping trolleys to the utmost, causing a shortage for other shoppers. 

With less face-to-face communication, the use of video calls on the internet took over. 'Zoom' meetings for those working from home (WFH), replaced workplace discussions. And soon Zoom moved into most peoples' lives with 'schooling at home', hobby, exercise and relaxation groups, families coming together online, birthday celebrations and even weddings and funerals. 

These buzzwords/neologisms were coined quickly.  “Zoombombing” meant someone had hijacked a Zoom video call. It may not always be a person, often a toddler, cat, or dog.

It is thought that: "using this new vocabulary helps people articulate their worries about the biggest health crisis we have seen in generations. It brings people together around a set of collective cultural reference points -- a kind of lexical 'social glue'. In the absence of regular social contact, shared talk is an important part of helping people feel connected to one another."        Lawson, R., (2020).

Our daughters, partners and grandchildren in Victoria and New South Wales have experienced long periods of lockdown. The youngest has been working from home off and on over the last year. The oldest has been homeschooling her two high school children, as well as preparing lessons for students online and lessons for those in special situations having to still attend school. We have been lucky in Queensland so far. We have had our two ‘Astra Zeneca’ vaccinations and glad we were able to, as many have not yet been able to access them.

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REFERENCE: Lawson, Robert, April 28, 2020. 'The Conversation.' Arts & Culture. https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-has-led-to-an-explosion-of-new-words-and-phrases-and-that-helps-us-cope-136909