Edwina Bartholomew: My Covid scare highlights a huge divide

Seven days into isolation and three negative Covid tests, Edwina Bartholomew is thankful she can afford it.

We’ve had to stop reading a particular children’s book in our house this week. It’s the Jackie French classic, Diary of a Wombat. Page one reads, “Monday. Morning: Slept. Afternoon: Slept. Evening: Ate grass. Scratched. Night: Ate grass”, and so it continues.

At the moment, our days are a little too similar to this lazy marsupial for my liking. I am in 14 days’ home quarantine after a positive Covid case at work. If I was to keep a similar diary, it would read something like this.

“Monday. Morning: Tried to sleep. Woken early by small human. Mid-morning: Tried to work. Did some drawing instead. Afternoon: More drawing. Succumbed to Play School. Evening: Ate pasta. Night: Slumped on couch”. And this is only Day 7.

Quarantine is obviously not a new experience. Thousands of Australians have endured home quarantine over the past 18 months and many more in a hotel. I know I am exceedingly lucky in many ways.

Edwina Bartholomew returned three negative Covid tests seven days into home quarantine.

Firstly, I have returned three negative Covid tests so, unlike my close colleague, I am mostly well. Secondly, I am not a casual worker who doesn’t get paid if I am not physically at work. I can still work from home and have access to sick leave. And finally, I am eternally grateful that my child is of an age where drawing and making choo-choo trains out of online delivery boxes can still occupy most of the day.

My experience highlights the huge divide in one of our main defences against Covid. Who can and who can’t afford to spend 14 days at home? Do you have space to self-isolate within your own house? And if you are the primary carer for your children or other loved ones, do you even have the option to be socially distant from the rest of your family?

If you happen to have money in the bank, a secure job and are coping mentally with Covid lockdowns, it’s not too much of a hassle. If you don’t, 14 days’ quarantine is an eternity and can mean the difference between food on the table or nothing at all. I certainly don’t excuse it but I can completely understand the dilemma faced by so many families when it comes to Covid compliance.

For now, I’m trying to look on the positive side before I go back to work next Thursday. My sock drawer has never been tidier, my tax is complete and, with another baby on the way, this will be the last time I can spend one-on-one time with my daughter before we become a family of four.

Originally published as Edwina Bartholomew: My Covid scare highlights a huge divide