How do you say that?

I never thought I'd hear school kids say that they were going to study epidemiology, becoming an epidemiologist. In 2020-21 this has been highlighted as a relevant science with epidemiologist appearing often on our TV screens talking of the coronavirus, testing, vaccinations.  Coronavirus (COVID-19) has provided us with an incredible range of changes in our lives - not just in the medical side of the virus but, among other things, including the expansion of our COVID vocabulary.

We never think twice about talking of social distancing and we certainly know what it means. Even if there weren't signs and markings on the floor, we know to stand 1.5 metres from other people. We have a fair idea of where to sit when we need to have 2 square metres of space, as distinct from 4 square metres - all depending on the current rate of infection.

I don't think too many Australians ever imagined that state borders would close, restricting us to travel within our own states. We know about hard and soft borders and know that within hours we could be locked out of our home state. We've been quarantined in our houses, locked down in our suburb, restricted to 25km trips, prohibited from interstate and international travel. It's a new normal. It's amazing that we get used to wearing face masks in public, allowing only a handful of people into our homes, not shaking hands, and perhaps working from home.

Hotel quarantine has been a contentious issue. Anyone coming from overseas or interstate has been required to quarantine in specific hotels. Most of the cases seen over the past few months have originated in these hotels, usually followed by a 5 day lockdown. There is talk of building quarantine settlements away from the major cities to house hundreds of patients if needed. It seems the virus is expected to hang around for years. We have have to get used to sudden lockdowns, closed state borders and mass vaccinations.