(Not a transport post)
I suspect some people would rather forget 2020, but I just wanted to mark that it’s five years since the COVID-19 pandemic really took hold, and lockdowns began in March 2020.
Previous blogs have included posts from the midst of lockdown, a summary the events of 2020, and I also wrote about catching it for the first time in 2023. Thankfully I haven’t had it since.
So where are we at now, five years since it hit hard?
In some ways things have bounced back to normal. There’s little trace of the events five years ago that had us stuck at home for months on end.
COVID hasn’t gone away of course. It’s still around.
Facemasks in public are a bit more common in 2025 than they were in 2019, but most people don’t wear them.
But I’m glad they’re accepted. Nobody blinks an eye if someone chooses to wear one.
I still sometimes have a mask with me, and I’ll sometimes wear one on crowded public transport – in part after hearing horror stories about older acquaintances testing positive, isolating for a few days, then kind of forgetting about it and going out shopping unmasked.
In 2020 I got into the habit of doing my supermarket shopping early in the morning or late at night when it’s less crowded, and I still do. Apart from anything else it’s quicker.
The Work From Home habit looks here to stay for white collar workers. I doubt most will return to 100% working in the office.
For me I’m 3 days at home, 2 in the office, which I think works well, especially if you can plan meetings (especially those involving rapid fire brainstorming) for the office days.
How’s the economy doing? I’m no economist but from charts on the ABS web site (GDP growth shown below) it seems like it had a wild ride through the pandemic but has moved back to closer to normal – though what happens this year as the USA wildly pivots is anybody’s guess.
Given the havoc from the virus, how did we go with vaccinations? Our World In Data, says 82.6% of the Australian population had completed the initial course by August 2024.
Personally I’m keeping up to date with boosters. It wasn’t much fun when I had COVID; I’d prefer to avoid it (or minimise it) in the future.
- This ABC story from January also looks back at 5 years since the start of the pandemic
- ABC’s Health Report also has an excellent segment on it: Five years on, have we learnt from COVID-19?
- Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive To Survive season 3 episode 1 shows the cancellation of the 2020 Melbourne Grand Prix
3 replies on “Five years of COVID”
In 2020 I had Lymphoma and was treated via chemotherapy which shutdown my immune system, so for six months I barely left the house. I managed to avoid Covid all that time up until recently when I suffered a bout and the doctor was very surprised when I told her that I not had Covid before.
I don’t know why, but I’ve avoided Covid.
For no real reason, I think two days work from home is acceptable, but it so much depends on your job. So many workers don’t have that privilege.
Yep, my next Covid vax is soon and will be combined with a flu vaccination.
I am due to get my COVID shot soon, and it should be acknowledged that we are not out of the woods yet with COVID-19. However, while I am concerned about COVID-19, we need to discuss the elephant in the room, and that is Bird Flu (H5N1), which, if it reaches pandemic level, will be so bad that it would make COVID-19 look like a walk in the park. But unfortunately in the United States of America, you have one of those cookers as Health Secretary who are recommending “alternatives” that DON’T WORK and only makes the problem worse (mind you, RFK Jr. has vaccinated his kids, but tells everyone else not to vaccinate their kids). With the situation in the United States of America in regards to the next pandemic, sadly it is not a case of if a new pandemic hits the world, but when. Let’s pray that it doesn’t come to that.