Let's be honest, not many of us would've expected to have just lived a week (mostly) out of lockdown.
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It certainly came as somewhat of a surprise on Monday afternoon when Premier Daniel Andrews announced that the lockdown would only last a few more hours for those in regional Victoria.
The strict restrictions remained in place, but at least we were allowed to leave our homes.
Yes, we dodged a bullet, but we are very much on edge.
It was a reprieve, but a stark reminder of just how delicately our lives are balanced in this pandemic world.
One minute you can be living your life almost as normal, the next you're in an indefinite lockdown.
You only have to look at what happened in Canberra this week.
There was once a time when COVID seemed to gradually build, allowing for at least some degree of forward planning. Not with the Delta variant though.
Now, we live each day knowing everything could be turned on its head at the drop of a hat.
The only way we are ever going to get close to life as we once knew it is by vaccination. There is simply no other way.
That is why in this weekend edition of The Courier, as in previous weeks, we are urging people to continue to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
The doors have now been thrown open to younger people (aged 18-39) to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine and early statewide reports show there has been a huge uptake of such people rolling up their sleeves.
In Ballarat, 26.6% of people are fully vaccinated and 50% have had one jab.
It's certainly a solid start, but there's obviously more than be done.
There's no reason why you can't jump online right now and book in your vaccination, if you haven't already.
We are all in this together and if we all just put in this one small bit of effort, we can come out the other side of it together.
We've always fought off COVID well in Ballarat, now let's go that one step further.