On 20th July 2021, the South Australian premier announced a 6 day lockdown due to the Modbury cluster of Covid-19. I have previously blogged on the Parafield cluster lockdown, and mandatory self isolation. This is post 2 in the the current lockdown series. You can read post 1 here.

This morning, I got to sleep in until 7:50am, ready to start work at 8am. I love working from home.

Work was ordinary. I called clients (I’m basically a social worker), and checked in on how the lockdown is going for them. They all seemed in pretty good spirits. It emphasised that this was a new normal.

Our press conference today was dull. Two more cases were announced, but the whole tone was status-quo. Disturbingly, Chief Health Officer, Proffessor Nicola Spurrier, advised that only about 50% of the people who were at the super spreading events (at the winery and at the restaurant) have been tested.

I listened to a podcast the other day that spoke about how our public servants, like Nicola Spurrier, have been thrust into the public eye. When they take a role as Chief Health Officer, there was probably things they expected to do, but fronting press conference daily to justify pandemic decisions was probably not one of them. Reddit has been talking about how rad our Nicola Spurrier is.

During lunch break, I managed to mostly-plant a yakka (in a pot I sourced on the day the lockdown was announced – yay for foresight), tidied up my pots, and put in a load of laundry.

I have a terrible problem of eating a lot of food throughout the day but I guess soon enough there won’t be any food left and I will learn my lesson. (More likely: I will bake cakes for days.)

After work, I finished planting my yakka, started planting a couple of succulents, and threw a handful of bulbs into the ground. (The bulbs had been optimistically sprouting in my shed so I thought I’d give them a chance.) There was a fine drizzle of icy rain, which hampered my interest in completing the gardening.

I went about setting my podcasts for more hallway painting. I had already listened to Coronacast and The Quicky today, and was trying to find more Covid-19 content. When I couldn’t, I put it on ABC Listen – and they also weren’t talking Covid-19. I have spent my day checking SA Health and CovidPete on Facebook, discovering a new Facebook group for Covid testing line times in South Australia, and scanning the Adelaide subreddit for Covid content.

I have been contemplating what this compulsion is. When I read news, it doesn’t make me feel anything, except informed. It doesn’t worry me or upset me. I’ve listened to Coronacast since way-back, and I listen to Covid-related podcast episodes when I see them. So that part hasn’t changed. And I do like CovidPete. And I do already visit the Adelaide subreddit. I guess the one change is the frequent refreshing of the SA Health exposure sites. But my thirst for Covid-related news is consistent, lockdown or not… I think it’s probably okay.

I had toast for tea and panicked that the toaster had stopped working – but it is working, just dodgy.

I did one coat of cutting in with paint on our hallway. By that time it was after 8pm.

Shower. Bed.

Tomorrow will be a repeat.