Ugh I've just been reading about the Preston schoolboy quarantine breach and I'm just so pessimistic about ever seeing my family interstate again :( I'm so fed up with people doing the wrong thing, I'm sorry I need a whinge!
I'm a GP in Melbourne and every single shift at work I have patients with relevant symptoms who have not been tested for Covid. Thank goodness most are telehealth so that I'm not exposed, but also to protect the members of our staff who I know aren't vigilant enough about keeping their masks on and who are very much at risk at the front desk if we ever get an asymptomatic case, superspreader, or someone who slips through our screening procedures. FFS one of our receptionists is a pro-Trump, conspiracy-theorist, who is anti-lockdown and masks!
I have friends who are doctors themselves, and friends who are highly educated professionals with PhDs even, who have not had themselves or their children tested with relevant symptoms. They're not anti-masks and they do believe in science. But they're not doing the right thing.
My local optometrist continues to sell fancy face shields as an alternative to masks, with a huge poster that says they comply with DHHS face covering requirements. They don't.
The local hairdressers were all open again today, all with doors closed (I though ventilation would be a good idea? maybe there's something I don't know there), several hairdressers wearing their mask on their chin, and one barber shop blatantly doing a beard trim on an unmasked customer in the chair in their front window. I could feel my blood pressure rising as I walked past!
The building site on my street started up the day after stage 4 lockdowns commenced. The site had been dormant for over a year. It felt comical that they would start that day! I have caught the guys on site wearing masks just twice in over two months! Otherwise they're always unmasked and frequently huddling together to look down a hole or at someone's phone. Don't they have families they go home to?! There's one guy who has been sneezing for the last week and wiping his snot away with his finger. I have used the online police reporting form four or five times I think over the last 10 weeks, but nothing's happened. For fuck's sake, this would be a very easy fine since the guys are basically never masked, Monday to Saturday, 7am to 4pm. VicPol could visit any time and be sure to raise some money!
Walking to and from work, I see cafes allowing patrons to dine in with their coffee and read the paper, hospitality staff with masks down chatting to each other, tradies everywhere with masks down or absent, and quite often people on the street in jeans with no mask at all and a challenging look in their eye! Don't know about other areas, but in my area I often wonder if all the people wearing active wear are doing it just so they can run errands without a mask on and claim they're exercising!
I started wearing a mask at work and on the street a few weeks before it became compulsory. I was laughed at, shoulder-bumped, spat at, sworn at, and heckled. It was a bit of a shock. At least the reactions went away when it became compulsory for everyone and I no longer stuck out.
It just feels like everywhere I look there's rule breakers and people who don't give a shit about others, and combined with hearing from patients all the time that they're not being tested when they ought to, I kind of feel like we're going to get another wave surely and I just don't trust anyone!! It's really bad for my mental health I reckon! Sorry for the rant but I needed to get it all off my chest! A huge thank you to everyone who is following the rules and trying to do everything they can to limit the spread of coronavirus. I appreciate your efforts.