Genealife in lockdown – how is it different?

Well I am extremely lucky to live in Tasmania, the most southern state of Australia. Being an island, we have a natural moat around our state and our Premier was very quick to pull up the bridges and put in restrictions to entering the state. As at September 2020, our population was 541,071.

Except for early 2020, we have had virtually no change to our life in Tasmania. The closest we had to a lockdown was a short period in April/May 2020 (during the Ruby Princess scare) when we could only travel within 10km of our houses. This was when people in the northwest part of the state around Devonport and Burnie were following tighter restrictions. Dancing was not permitted and you had to be seated to eat food and drink when at hotels and bars. We had social distancing and the square metre rules for how many people could be in a certain venue.

We recently had a scare though – a person from NSW flew to Melbourne then onto Tasmania without getting a G2G pass. He was caught at Launceston airport when he arrived, was put straight into hotel quarantine and tested then two days later, was sent back to Sydney on a return flight. His test was shown to be positive for the Delta strain. Luckily he wasn’t out in our community during this time. Prior to this case, we had not had a positive case since 19 December 2020.

Personally, the only time I have had to wear a mask is at the airport when I travelled to King Island, then another time to Flinders Island and then a fortnight from Darwin to Broome. Early in 2020, I missed just getting into my car and going for long drives or heading into town to go to the archives.

With my parents being in their late eighties and living in their own home, I was worried about them getting Covid while shopping and eating out in the community. So my brother and I did their shopping early in 2020, then taught dad how to do online shopping from supermarkets. By the end of 2020, they were back to going out for meals and shopping again. Luckily mum’s GP organized for them to be vaccinated earlier this year and a couple of weeks ago they got their second dose.

Being retired, means life is like a holiday all the time. Get up when I want, do what I want when I want and so on. I have taken part in a couple of genealogical conferences this year but have not taken part in many zoom meetings. I have had the chance to do a lot more with my DNA results and adding to my tree. I have also volunteered at the local library to help one on one with family history clients. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading lots of books from the genealogy genre.

Readers: How has your genealogy life changed during Covid?

4 thoughts on “Genealife in lockdown – how is it different?

  1. Such a positive post. Glad that your state has been so much safer the others, Sue. I hope your parents and all others stay safe and well.

  2. My daughter and I keep threatening to move to Tassie but I’m not sure how I would cope with the cold after living in Queensland for so many years. Yes a moat certainly helps. I thought I would do a lot more family history in retirement but my volunteering and bridge keep me so busy that FH barely gets a look in !

  3. Tassie has done so well, it’s natural moat working better than the big island’s. Being retired makes a huge difference doesn’t it? Even when our lives are affected it is in smaller ways than eg dor parents trying to homeschool while also working from home. I don’t envy them!

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