Everyone was happy to get back into 'routine' - school, work and extra curricula activities. The girls were excited to reconnect with their friends again. Meanwhile the world however was planning another path for us.
Saturday dawned. It was the usual netball shuffle between Ella and Katy's games. Andy, worried the covid situation in NSW was heading into disaster, had convinced Rob to accompany him to the lodge for the night so they could get in some skiing. Arriving at Guthega at about 1pm, they managed to sneak in a few hours of skiing before the lifts closed at 4.30pm.
It was while I was cooking dinner for the girls that I noticed that QLD had announced it was going into a 3 day lockdown. A few hours later, ACT announced stay at home conditions for those who were in the identified LGA's areas of risk. Unfortunately our missed Canberra connection flight involved staying for a 12 hour stopover the the City of Brisbane during the dates specified.
Katy was completely devastated to miss out on her gym competition scheduled for the next morning. For Andy and Rob, it meant they had to leave the lodge as soon as possible. They arrived back in the ACT at 11pm.
We spent Sunday trying to figure out what stay at home conditions meant. We were now home bound for 3 days only allowed to leave (with a mask on) for one of the 5 identified purposes including 1 hour of exercise.
Despite being in a geographical area of risk we were not encouraged or entitled to have a covid test. One needed to have symptoms. Both Andy and I suddenly developed a 'sore throat' and took ourselves off to the covid drive through testing facility at EPIC. The line was long and we slowly inched forward eventually having our throats and noses prodded and scraped some 45 minutes later.
On Monday morning, we informed the girls schools our our predicament and they wanted the girls to return to school (education was one of the 5 reasons you were allowed to leave the house for). Ella was keen to return to school but that meant wearing a mask while there. Meanwhile Katy who could go to school as per normal (no mask required) revealed she wasn't feeling very well with a sore throat. So off to EPIC we went for her to have a covid test. The line was much longer and we spent 2.5 hours inching our way forward.
During the day it was announced that the QLD lockdown would continue for another 7 days!! So I spent the morning rescheduling the multiple medical appointments we had for this week - my skin check, MRI for Ella and orthodontic consults for both girls.
Andy had quickly flipped to working from home and was busy with zoom meetings and lectures. As for my work, Tuesday's list had been rescheduled and I'd assumed I would return on Wednesday in a mask being an essential health care worker. However as the day unfolded, work called and they were concerned about the covid guidelines. A quick call to the hotline revealed that my work qualified as a high risk setting - my workplace meets the criteria for a high risk setting as we see people who are vulnerable (pregnant ladies) to covid-19 and we are at a a higher risk of covid-19 transmission due to the close proximity with patients. In short I would not be able to work until 14 days had elapsed (counting from when we were in QLD) or the lockdown was lifted!! Ahh.....
The week continued to surprise us - my Mum had her heart procedure to correct the atrial fibrillation and Andy's dad unfortunately fell over at lunchtime orienteering and dislocated his knee. Frustratingly being under stay at home conditions we were unable to help out.
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