Pandemic, what pandemic?  Only four months ago we were updating our Pandemic Plan and laughing because it certainly wasn’t going to be used in my lifetime. Well, as they say don’t count your eggs …. The interesting thing for me has been that Council’s role (GSCC where I work and other Local Governments across the state) is to repeat and reinforce the guidelines set out by State and Federal governments. This becomes challenging when they are inconsistent, contradictory or just plain confusing. Council has developed its own website with links to the services, agencies and operations working with our community during the pandemic. My role is in maintaining contact with various groups and ensuring that where we find a need, we find someone who can address that need. Sometimes it is council, as often as not it is another agency or group. As we move into recovery, I believe a consistent message will be “help yourself, help your family, help your neighbour”. I think this is consistent with Rotary’s philosophy that the whole community is your neighbour. Covid19 is forever, but the restrictions are not. Stick with in and we will all benefit.
My personal three wishes for when this is ‘over’ are to hug my daughter, sit in a coffee shop and read my book and hug my daughter again. Covid19 has made me appreciate some of the simpler things in life.