A survival guide for the COVID-19 pandemic

A letter writer says following the core values of society will help many through the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

Chelsea Fifield takes her son Landon, 2 and daughter Isla, 4, for COVID-19 tests at Noosa Junction. Photo Patrick Woods / Sunshine Coast Daily.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

This year has impacted on the lives of each and every single one of us.

We have all had to make sacrifices over the past months.

We have had to say goodbye to the gentle hug of a friend or a loved one, or the strong handshake between new people.

We have had to stay at home and limit our time outside doing things we love and enjoy so much.

We have had to make compromises and have spent more time than we would have liked to watching Netflix and thinking about the simple things we took for granted just eight months ago.

We have lost our jobs and had our businesses locked down or closed.

We have gone from learning in an engaging environment with our friends to staring at an app screen while our lecturer speaks to us over a grainy internet connection.

We have watched the news as glimmers of hope are weighed down by new clusters of cases emerging.

We have worn masks and had our nostrils prodded, we have watched sports and for a moment there felt normal, right up until the camera panned upwards to the seating where we see a lack of a crowd.

We have felt lonely and wished we could see someone when we could not.

Some of us have reached out to only worry that what we are feeling is not worth the bother. We have all felt lost and wondered what the future holds for us.

We have moved back from lives we started elsewhere in the world.

We have missed family, friends and loved ones and they have missed us back.

We have had birthdays alone or candles we cannot blow out.

We have had to make do at home when gyms were out of reach.

We have had one to many scoops of ice cream when the watch on our wrist vibrates for us to get up and move.

We have felt and been through so many different things.

We must all take the time to make sure that we are OK and that our family and friends are OK.

This year has been a year that has impacted on every single one of us.

Call a friend or loved one.

Go for a walk around the block or climb Mt Coolum.

Wake up early and watch the sunrise or sit by the water as it sets for the day.

Pop those ear pods in and listen to a tune that takes you into your own world.

Take a hike in the Glass House Mountains and breathe in that fresh air.

Walk barefoot along the beautiful beaches of Caloundra and feel the sand between your toes and the warm sun against your face.

Make sure you seek help if help is what you need.

Smile by yourself and laugh at silly memes.

If this experience is going to teach us one thing, I hope that is that life is precious.

Take care of yourself, your family and your friends, do good in this world, make a difference and look out for each other.

LUKE O'DONNELL, Palmview

Emission permission

Is there an admission from politicians that there are no clinicians on the Covid Recovery Commission?

Does the commission have permission for emissions to rise?

Will the missive of the mission be the health and safety of the nation? Just asking.

MARGARET WILKIE, Peregian Beach

Vaccine by Christmas?

It's over more than four score years since I would wake on a Christmas morning and rifle through my Christmas stocking looking for something a bit different to the usual orange, apple, grapefruit and pomegranate.

The pomegranate, which would take up a lot of time picking out the seeds with a safety pin to make it last longer, rather than one bite.

The crackers which my sister and I shared and hoped when pulled, there would be more than the usual tissue paper hat and a little trinket consisting of a ring or a model car.

There would be very few presents under the Christmas tree then after the war but I still recall my first soccer boots which must have been when I was seven or eight as they were worn through my later school years as goal keeper for the school.

You could say I was one of those goal keepers who was in that list of vulnerability as I let four goals go by me into the back of the net in my last game which was the final of the Fazely Cup Shield against a rival school which cost us the game.

I had better success playing centre forward in the army when stationed in Aden in the late 50s.

Never been much good at saving anything but have taken every opportunity of scoring a goal on or off the field which is proven with my choice of my wife and family.

Anyway this coming Christmas, along with those around my age, I hope I don't have to spend too much time rifling through my stocking looking for that promised vaccine which our Prime Minister assured us will be given to the most vulnerable.

Perhaps if I show him my record as a goal keeper it will sway it for me.

ERNEST WRIGHT, Sunrise Beach

Thank you to emergency services

Having never been in an ambulance in 50 years I was mightily impressed by the speed and professionalism of the crew from Noosa who took me to Buderim Hospital on August 16.

Equipment-wise they seemed to have everything and some.

I felt secure under their knowledgeable care and if they are a sample of the whole service then Queensland has a great asset.

Thanks again!

PAUL EVERINGHAM, Hamilton

An open letter to council

The Sunshine Coast Regional Council talkfest on mass transit planning, as reported in the Daily, is just that because without a medium to a long-term development plan for the region that is accepted by the State Government, nothing will work.

How about our elected councillors and the bureaucratic whiz kids they employ answer these simple questions relating to the region by say 2050, and that's only a generation from now.

What is the anticipated population of the region between Caloundra to Noosa in 2050?

What industries and employment opportunities will be available to the people enabling the region to be self-sustainable?

Thinking the Gold Coast region and the people movement twice daily who work in the greater Brisbane area, is expected to be mirrored here, if so, what transport infrastructure is needed so as not to witness the road chaos seen now?

Regarding question three, is council considering the need for a modern rail passenger system with a double rail track allowing a clockwise and anticlockwise service linking Caloundra, Noosaville and Cooroy? If not, why not?

Would council consider modernising governance for the nation by creating a regional government embracing six federal electorates, without state governments, and having six federal house members (as now per by electoral division) and three senators, one senator per electorate division, with constitutional authority to its powers, responsibilities and governance?

These five simple questions should develop the interest in all of us when we compare our governance, designed over a hundred years ago, and that which I present in question five.

Australia needs modern solutions to progress with confidence and vision and comparing what we are witnessing now due to COVID-19 and the State Governments' action damaging the nation for many years to come is not the pathway to success and progress.

Do I expect a response from anyone? No!

Because they have no vision, no answers beyond their time in office or employment, and, this is cancer that corrupts all three tiers of governments in Australia.

Originally published as