Dobbing on others won’t get us through the coronavirus crisis

The majority of us doing the right thing don’t trust the rogue and potentially dangerous minority to do likewise. And so the urge to dob has escalated, but that’s bad news long term, writes Louise Roberts.

Many ordinary delights such as family meals at the local Italian restaurant and a beach day with friends that we so happily took for granted are a casualty of life in the time of COVID-19.

Hard as it is to believe, they will return again.

But what of our already-frayed social fabric, which has been battered by health warnings, social distancing, and now what seems to be a pandemic of dobbing that is in some cases literally turning neighbour against neighbour?

And that’s the insidious thing about this COVID-19 virus: It’s an unseeable foe, transmissible for days before symptoms turn up meaning we are all, potentially, hosts.

It’s the message we’ve gotten from any number of officials, whether it be the soothing NSW Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly, or the disturbing vision of cop cars rolling across the grass in Rushcutter’s Bay moving on solo sunbathers.

And while the spread of coronavirus in NSW might be slowing, don’t pop the champagne corks just yet to celebrate the curve flattening.

Every time I hear the chipper comments about how well us Aussies are doing in behaving ourselves and doing our bit to harness the lethal COVID-19, I despair.

Tourists have been taking a relaxed approach to coronavirus despite strict community guidelines. Picture: AAP/Joel Carrett

That much was evident by the recent photographs of beachgoers snuggling on the sand, the backpackers jammed together on outdoor sofas clutching a frosted beer and TV footage of officers in marked cars moving in on picnickers, book readers and anyone else bereft of a valid reason to be outside.

The majority of us doing the right thing don’t trust the rogue and potentially dangerous minority to do likewise. And so the urge to dob has escalated. That can only be bad news long term for all of us.

A colleague told me – remotely, of course – the story yesterday of a man she observed sitting alone at a local beach eating a sandwich.

His crime was to sit on the wrong side of a fenced-off area. This was duly noted by three women, apoplectic with rage, who bustled over to give him a dressing down.

Unperturbed, the man kept munching his salad roll which triggered a mass approach to a nearby council warden to “do something about it”.

As a society we cranked up to this more draconian way of life – a $11,000 fine for going public in groups of more than two – because social cohesion alone could not get us over the line.

St. Vincent’s Hospital has opened a COVID-19 testing clinic in Bondi as the number of cases continue to rise in the eastern suburbs. Picture: AAP/Dean Lewins

It’s been the selfish and ignorant actions of a few that has basically imprisoned the rest of us for our own safety.

Take the idiocy of backpackers, previously a protected species in Aussie society but now believed to responsible for making Bondi for example a cluster of coronavirus cases.

Or the fools holding a party on top of a Kings Cross hostel.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant confirmed there had been a spike of the virus among backpackers, many of whom were staying in hostels.

We knew a crackdown was looming, given the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases flouting self-­isolation guidelines.

And that’s not lost on NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller who said: “We’re not a police state. Just to be clear, we’re not.”

Mr Fuller said police could use CCTV cameras to identify where people were breaking the social distancing laws at parks and send police to fine them.

Again, who would imagine in 2020 that we would be living like this; restricted but also at each other’s throats.

The obvious solution to dobbing is for people to take this seriously and start doing the right thing. Picture: John Grainger

It’s even worse over the ditch: In New Zealand a website dedicated to dobbing crashed soon after going live.

People here complain they can’t keep track of the ever tightening restrictions but how about personal responsibility? If you find it confusing then educate yourself. There’s oodles of information out there.

I have a friend with a compromised immune system and her youngest son, 20, is like a pit bull when it comes to keeping her safe. He is keeping a careful watch to make sure she doesn’t sneak out to the supermarket or the pharmacy, and regularly passes the antibacterial hand rub around the table at night when they are playing board games.

He is still working, but when he comes home goes straight to the shower and is social distancing from his mum, even when she begs him for a hug.

“It has actually surprised me how careful he has become and how aware he is of the danger of this virus,” my friend said. “He is mindful of what it could mean for me if I contract the virus and has asked all of his friends not to come to our home until further notice.”

She also noted that her children are the first to tune into the PM’s nightly press conferences. They both have the coronavirus app installed on their phones and check in regularly.

Lest it all sound like fear and loathing, there are bright spots among the gloom for some who have managed to turn the negative of enforced isolation into something of a positive.

“I have had more laughter in my house in the past week than I have had in months,” a friend told me.

“Our family lingers around the dinner table for hours, we tell stories and look at photos and play cards. We play backyard cricket when it’s sunny. Instead of my weekly beach meditation with friends we now collectively sit in our backyards when there is a clear night and look at the stars for 30 minutes. We connect that way.”

This is the way to do it – listen to trusted sources of information and look out for each other.

No dobbing required.

@whatlouthinks

Originally published as Dobbing on others won’t get us through the coronavirus crisis