2020 – A Year For LIVING!

All around us we are watching people respond to the COVID-19 situation in different ways.. To be perfectly honest, we could get on the panic trolley with almost everyone else, or we can choose to stay calm and think about what we’re seeing..

We are, of course, taking the safety, health & hygiene of all of our team and all of our Clients extremely seriously – and have done so since this virus first emerged. We’re well-accustomed to working in environments such as Aged Care, Hospitals and Child Care, where outbreaks of illness occur and the residents are particularly vulnerable. For us, that’s just business as usual.

We are, however, watching the hospitality & catering industry, the lives of thousands of small business owners and the ability to pay the bills of tens of thousands of casual workers being adversely affected by the panic-based decisions of leaders here and around the world. Leaders who will be paid regardless of whether their decisions are subsequently found to have been fact-based, or something else.

Draw your own conclusions. For our part, we will continue to try to keep our employees in work, we will continue to encourage people to support their local businesses – but not indulge in bulk purchases to hoard supplies. We will continue to abide by best practise in terms of the guidelines being released by WHO and Australian governments. We are hopeful that once the virulence (or lack thereof) of this virus is acknowledged, governments will move as swiftly as they are able to undo the panic they have generated and encourage people to see that a very swift response internationally had significant unforeseen impacts on society – and that living in fear is not a useful state of existence. Hopefully a return to a somewhat more sane, more reasoned approach will follow – and we can all get back to living our lives.

What do we know? A virus emerged in China, in a city (Wuhan) where it is believed a biological weapons facility may be based. COVID-19 spread like most viruses do, there were a small number of fatalities – predominantly among the aged and those with compromised immune systems. China radically restricted travel, the virus has subsided there. The virus moved to Korea, where it peaked and is now on the wane. About this time the AAP News Agency closed its doors, leaving world media outlets without the news feed they have been used to – and making COVID-19 the only significant international coverage they could provide. The virus has (at the time of writing) spread to 196 countries, with some having very few confirmed cases – and China remaining the country with the highest rate of cases. Around the world, though the morbidity rate of those infected is just 4% – much lower than with many other diseases seen as ‘significant’. The infection rate is slowing in almost all countries where there have been significant infections – on about the same 4 week cycle as seen elsewhere. At this stage COVID-19 has been responsible for about 3% of the deaths attributed to SARS – and yet no countries went on lockdown then and all world economies emerged relatively unscathed.

Have a look out the window. Life’s for the living – so don’t bury yourself in despair and hopelessness. Get out and LIVE!