B Joyce, Brunswick Heads
As we all enjoyed restaurants and haircuts in the last couple of weeks, are we getting complacent about the risks?
Here are some post-lockdown observations from Mullum, Bangalow, Bruns and Byron: crowded shops; strangers shaking hands negotiating a sale; hair stylist hugging multiple clients; hair salon not disinfecting equipment; waitstaff not social distancing; restaurants wiping tables with a damp rag post-meal, no other shared surface cleaning; crowded pavements; almost zero mask wearing.
Yes, there have been no cases here for multiple weeks. Yes, rural areas have been much less affected. And yes, lockdowns are hard.
But lockdowns do work, and ours is now essentially over. So we are all out and about. And flights from Sydney and Melbourne are restarting. And it is getting colder, and drier.
Simply put, no one knows what will happen in regional Australia (re COVID-19) in winter and with no lockdowns.
But what we do know is that ‘it won’t happen here’ complacency has been a common thread of disaster around the world. And based on observations these past weeks, if the novel coronavirus was here now, it’d find us with our guard down.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
