COVID-19: THE SOCIAL IMPACT ON A CITY
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on life in Australian has had a profound economic, social and psychological influence, possibly the greatest single impact on our society since WW2. By mid-March, when it was apparent COVID-19 was a serious threat, the federal and state governments initiated the rapid enforcement of broad spectrum measures to contain its spread.
At the onset of the crisis, sensing a significant broad-spectrum impact, I started documenting the changes, the subtle and the obvious, in my neighbourhood of Northbridge: people working remotely from home, bears on picket fences, public play-gyms off limits. It was a surreal epoch but one we adapted to quickly. My coverage grew to incorporate the effects on social gatherings, transport, religious practices, hospitals.
Thanks to timely border control and travel restrictions, indefatigable healthcare staff and with the majority of the public adhering to the privations, so far, Western Australia has gotten off lightly. Though locally life may have returned to all but normal and the COVID-19 epoch now seems like a distant aberration, its impact will be ongoing and some of the changes it brought about will in time become our new normal.
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