Every year since we moved here I think I may have written a post about the Grand Prix, which is held in a park within walking distance of our house. One weekend per year, we are bombarded by noise. Oh the noise noise noise noise! There is the whining of the cars as they zoom around the track. Then the boom of the fighter jets flying low over the crowds. The buzzing of the antique planes. Tickets for Sunday's race are well out of our price range, but back in 2016, just to say we did it, Jonathan and I paid for general admission tickets for the Saturday qualifying race:
http://clownandpoker.blogspot.com/2016/03/australian-grand-prix.html
This year, the Grand Prix opened as usual on Thursday afternoon. But by Friday morning, they were told by the Victorian Health Minister that crowds would be banned from attending. And the people on one of the teams tested positive. So the race was cancelled. Just like that.
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Tim has spent two weeks of every March for years and years and years watching March Madness basketball in the US with a friend. He had tickets to fly out at the end of this week. And then things started looking sketchy and unhealthy in the US. Tim called on Monday to inquire: what would be the penalty for cancelling his airline tickets? A $300 fee. So he decided to wait and see. He called again on Wednesday. No fee. Tickets cancelled. So no March Madness for Tim this year.
But wait! By Thursday, we found out there would be no March Madness for anyone this year! Madness!
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The situation is changing so rapidly, we don't know what to think. Someone on Twitter posted that watching a pandemic spread is like watching a car wreck in slow motion. Classes were delayed a week at Monash, and then moved to online-only for the first week of the semester. But currently students are still scheduled to come back on Monday for face-to-face instruction. That's going to put thousands of people back on the buses with me and Jonathan. I'm worried.
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I'm not the only one worried. My Head of School (like a department chair in the US) skipped a couple of important meetings to try to get our department ready for university closures.
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Easter events, sporting events, all cancelled.
Jonathan and I have been sharing articles about exponential growth, and the effects of quarantine and social isolation on the death rate. There are clear practices that keep the infections down to a level that hospitals can handle.
Why haven't they cancelled school yet?
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We were paying very close attention to the horror coming out of China a few weeks ago, when I was still trying to decide if I would re-book my tickets to Germany. First just Wuhan was shut down. Then all of China shut down. Tim's Shanghai office was shut down. Work-related travel to Australasia was cancelled.
At first it was just those coming from China that were bringing the disease to Australia. Then two people from Iran tested positive. Travel from Iran shut down! Then Italy. And now nearly all the new cases have come from the US. Shut it down! Shut it down! The virus is growing rampant and unrestrained in the US. Why are we still letting them in?
Today we had our first confirmed case of community spread. It has been confirmed that the disease is no longer contained in Australia. That changes everything in this country. And possibly nothing. Back to school on Monday. Just without the buzz of the formula one cars this weekend.
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My throat hurts.
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1 comment:
All Utah schools are closed for 2 weeks, all LDS church gatherings are closed at least until May 8th, Hale theatre closed, movie houses aren't closed but only letting in half the people so you can spread out - Smiths is not open 24 hours now - cut out the night hours, people and places are trying. Utah has had 5 cases but no deaths.
Anyway, doing what we can.
Stay safe.
KP
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