Copyright theage
When COVID shut down the world in 2020, I discovered something shameful about myself. Right from the start, the evidence showed that the disease was chiefly dangerous for a small subset of the population vulnerable due to advanced age or other health conditions. Yet Australia embarked on a cascade of lockdowns – starting with the least affected. Victorian premier Dan Andrews quickly closed schools. NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian prevaricated, but encouraged parents to keep their children home. My husband and I knew our family faced little risk. He wanted our young child to stay in school. I felt that I had no choice but to tune into community anxiety and home-school. I couldn’t win the argument with evidence. So I resorted to tears and claimed to be scared of the sickness to win the argument. The humiliating truth: I feared social stigma more than the virus. I will never stop feeling ashamed of my cowardice.
