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Byron Shire
February 19, 2025

COVID-free zone?

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John Caldwell, Georgica

After months of self-isolating, apart from our essential weekly shopping in Lismore, I think we could be forgiven for escaping over to Nimbin and the market last Sunday for some good food and the laid-back atmosphere.

We went duly armed with our recommended COVID-19 facemasks and respectful of the need to self-distance. We must have missed the ‘Nimbin is a COVID-19 free zone’ sign on our way in. Probably due to us both being just under 70 years old and not as sharp as we used to be.

Not a mask to be seen, apart from our own, and uninhibited co-mingling and hugs and kisses all round but wry smirks in our direction. Alas, the forlorn and unfrequented bottles of hand sanitiser placed here and there, out of the way, and the obligatory COVID-19 management plan at just one food stall, brought reality back into sharp focus. We are still at the battlefront of an insidious killer virus.

Maybe we have it all wrong! It was hard to ignore the conspiracy theory discussions taking place, even from a safe distance, as to how Bill Gates is determined to implant microchips – and the virus, into our nostrils at the end of a testing swab – and that it is all designed to control our minds and subjugate us.

After appropriate risk assessment, and feeling fairly out of place, we decided it was not worth hanging around and have now disappointingly returned to our self-isolation.

I can’t honestly say that Lismore is doing much better; but for those who believe in such a thing, we are not going to beat this virus unless we all take personal responsibility for prevention control and have respect for others.


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