Listening to the massive active case numbers of coronavirus coming in from Melbourne and worse, the rising death toll, there is a palpable sense of dread that the first lockdown was not enough and this pandemic is in some ways unstoppable.
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But it is worth considering that an inundation of COVID-19 in Ballarat is not inevitable.
Quarantine has served plague-hit cities for thousands of years and now with swift medical action, expertise and much more sophisticated information and controls, we are in a better position than ever to contain this latest mutation of the silent curse that steals among us.
Given this second wave is partly caused by careless behaviour, some see stricter controls as inevitable but the most vital tool of all is individual, disciplined action.
For this action, multiplied across a community, is the greatest defence we have. The restrictions may be tough, the onus of testing and isolation; but the alternative is much worse.
There will be those who flaunt the rules; the ignorant, the selfish or indifferent but we must leave them to the police and their own conscience.
Besides who would knowingly join them? One would no more countenance this betrayal of the collective effort than traitorously profiting on others misery and defeat in a besieged city.
For if this is a war, it has a more sinister and elusive enemy. And like war, fear can drive people to similar deplorable behaviour .
But Ballarat has proved it has a conscience and a spirit and will not countenance the galling weakness of blind self-survival that opens the gate to disease.
Rather we should set our community trust in unified strength that holds the walls and sees the invader pass on.
