The last four or five months have been pretty awful here. First, a drought with blisteringly hot temperatures. Then epic bushfires that destroyed huge pats of New South Wales and Victoria. This was immediately followed by a record rain event, which produced well over foot of rain in many places. A few towns got a year’s worth of rain in less than 48 hours. It put out the bushfires, but led to floods and power failures.
Australia was already looking at an economy damaged by all of this. The cost of picking up the pieces from the bushfires alone is more than the government can really afford. The last thing they needed was a pandemic. But they got it and it has wiped out their tourist industry, which I believe is the second biggest industry in Oz, particularly since so much of that tourism comes from China and elsewhere in Asia. A recession here seems inevitable.
Actually, the coronavirus has not been too bad here so far. There have been cases sprinkled around Sydney and elsewhere in the country, with the worst outbreak at an elder care center in Sydney’s norther suburbs. The government has been taking it all very seriously and, of course, they have the advantage of having universal health insurance. There is intense coverage of the virus on the TV News, but it is more news about what tis happening in Italy and Korea, etc. And, as I mentioned in my previous blog, there has been panic buying of toilet paper and hand sanitizer. (Toilet paper returned to the grocery store today. You could see people pausing as they walked by, thinking “I don’t really need this, but should I gat a package anyway?”)
But, in general, I don’t feel like the coronavirus has become a serious health concern here yet. Which doesn’t mean it won’t happen. David Lee’s daughter Georgianna, who is an emergency room doctor at the hospital near Manly, admitted their first coronavirus patient the other day. She was fully protected, met the patient outside and gowned her up to take her to her isolation room, which had special recycling air conditioning. As we’ve seen, this thing can spread exponentially. Things could change in a matter of days.
I’m certainly hoping it doesn’t. The Australians don’t need any more drama this year. And, of course, I am afraid that if there was an outbreak in Sydney, President Stupid might ban all flights from Australia. But, as much as I’ll be ready to come home, there are worse places to be trapped.
nickinshoreditch 
We’re in Vermont, where people are scurrying to the stores to get stocked up. At Hannaford’s people were exiting with shopping carts full to overflowing. Toilet paper was not top on my mind; after all, humankind lived for many millennia with no toilet paper whatsoever, but I was the exception. After getting our paper towels, we arrived at the shelves where there used to be toilet paper and there was none. A passing kind person whispered that Staples still had it, and since it was right next door, we went there and got some. People are taking this really seriously. I didn’t watch President Stupid on tv last night, but was interested to see how people were spurred to start taking care of themselves the next day. It’s pretty much “You’re on your own.” We’re staying up here, don’t want to get quarantined in a 25 story apartment building in Hoboken. Up here, we can putter around getting our house organized and don’t have to interact with a soul if we don’t want to.
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Things here in Oz have not reached that level yet. Judie was supposed to be hosting presentations here and in Melbourne this week and they have been converted to webinars. All kinds of meetings are being cancelled and her NYC Office as switched to remote work. Our son, James, who doesn’t really follow the news, suddenly realized that something big was happening when the NBA season was suspended and Tom Hanks d=said he had the virus. It’s been a good time to be out of the US…..
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Hi Nick I’ve been thinking of you and Judie. Sorry to hear what is like you and everyone in Australia is going through. Can’t stand the news here. Nothing talked about but the virus. Of course you heard trump’s announcement last night. I hope it doesn’t interfere with your travels back.
I wish you well. Looking forward to seeing you when you return. Take care, Norah
On Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 12:50 AM nickinshoreditch wrote:
> Nick Lewis posted: ” The last four or five months have been pretty awful > here. First, a drought with blisteringly hot temperatures. Then epic > bushfires that destroyed huge pats of New South Wales and Victoria. This > was immediately followed by a record rain event, which produ” >
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It is not nearly as bas here. Pretty much everything is still open and it all still seems “normal”, except for the toilet paper issue. Of course, this could all change during our last ten days here.
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