Melbourne’s crushing lockdowns have stripped us of our lives

What started as a 14-day shutdown to flatten the curve has become 200 days of isolation — and we’ll soon hold the world’s lockdown record.

What a miserable milestone Melbourne just notched up.

Two hundred days of living under crushing lockdowns. Only it’s not really living, just existing.

So much joy has been stripped from our lives.

The bonds and experiences that give our lives meaning have been decimated by quisling politicians, who are already talking about ongoing lockdowns, border closures, mask mandates and restrictions once we reach the 80 per cent fully vaccinated target.

Melbourne has now endured six lockdowns. Picture: Ian Currie

What began as 14 days to flatten the curve has turned into months of isolation and mental, physical and psychological hardship.

By Friday we’ll equal the Czech Republic’s 201 days and by next Friday we will overtake London which endured a total of 207 days under lockdown.

Despite the UK’s crippling and lengthy lockdown, they managed to record one of the worst death rates in Europe.

The notion that lockdowns save lives does not stand up to any sort of scrutiny when looking at international data.

Of course, the UK didn’t have its international borders closed as we do in Australia, but it’s worth noting that it performed considerably worse than other countries which took a more nuanced approach to the coronavirus pandemic.

As Allister Heath wrote in the Telegraph: “So now we know: Sweden got it largely right, and the British establishment catastrophically wrong. Anders Tegnell, Stockholm’s epidemiologist-king, has pulled off a remarkable triple whammy: far fewer deaths per capita than Britain, a maintenance of basic freedoms and opportunities, including schooling, and, most strikingly, a recession less than half as severe as our own”.

Federation Square during lockdown. Picture: Josie Hayden

But at least people in the UK are back to living their lives; all Covid restrictions were lifted on July 19 despite the Delta strain causing more than 50,000 cases per day.

Curiously, those numbers dropped dramatically in the weeks following “Freedom Day”.

In Melbourne we can’t enjoy or even plan for special occasions, whether it’s a wedding, birthday party or just a children’s sporting event.

If we are not already in lockdown or lockdown lite we know, all too well, that another lockdown is around the corner.

Lockdown Six has already been extended twice and few have any real confidence that it will end on September 2.

Thursday’s case numbers jumped to 57, compared to 24 on Wednesday.

So, buckle up Melburnians, we will, sooner or later, overtake Buenos Aires’ 234 days of lockdown.

Melbourne has gone from being the world’s most liveable city to the world’s most locked down.

DAYS SPENT IN LOCKDOWN

Buenos Aires – 234

London – 207

Czech Republic – 201

Melbourne – 200

Bangladesh – 169

Paris – 161

Azerbaijan – 152

New York -119

Belgium – 119

Delhi -117

California – 110

Sydney – 106

Singapore -101

Johannesburg – 93

Wuhan -76

Moscow – 76

Auckland – 73