Cairns coronavirus: Family’s life in Far North thrown into turmoil by COVID-19 crisis

Cairns-based hospitality worker Caterina Pagano is struggling to come to terms with a life thrown upside down by the coronavirus pandemic.

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CAIRNS-based hospitality worker Caterina Pagano is struggling to come to terms with a life thrown upside down by the coronavirus pandemic.

Empty supermarket shelves are of concern but her husband losing his job and watching the horrendous situation unfolding in her homeland has had her in the depths of despair.

Roberto Pellegrini and Caterina Pagano ,their son Leonardo Pellegrini 19 months PICTURE: ANNA ROGERS

“I am very stressed, I have been crying for the last three weeks knowing what my family is facing in Italy and hoping it won’t be the same here in Australia,” she said.

She had pulled her son out of daycare, as her partner now has time on his hands, but the uncertainly and the constantly moving goalposts have made her situation difficult to comprehend.

“It’s hard at the moment,” she said. “Not knowing how long it’s going for, we are not so worried about contracting the disease but mainly we don’t know how long until things will be back to normal.”

Ms Pagano said she was grateful to still have a job in the hospitality industry, when so many didn’t, but the stress and anxiety of the pandemic had certainly affected her mental health.

Originally published as Cairns coronavirus: Family’s life in Far North thrown into turmoil by COVID-19 crisis