Items
Creator is exactly
University of Melbourne
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2020-07-23
COVID-19 Contact Tracing Notice - Healthcare Worker
This was an email sent to my brother, who is a third year Doctor of Optometry student at the University of Melbourne. One of his classmates had tested positive for Covid-19, and he had been in the same lab room doing practicals together during this time. His whole class was asked to self-isolate for a two-week period, and his exams for the semester were pushed back as well. Although he does no directly deal with Covid-19 related patients, as a healthcare worker, he must come in close contact with people on a greater basis than almost any other profession. He isolated for the required period and was tested twice, thankfully with a negative result both times. Each test required 1-2 days turnaround. This object shows the steps organisations are taking to ensure proper contact tracing and in taking care both their patients and students. It also shows how healthcare workers, who come in close physical contact with others, are inherently at high risk and need to be extra careful not to catch or spread diseases. HIST30060. -
2020-03-07
End of my exchange - HIST30060
HIST30060 I was on exchange in Edinburgh when Covid broke out. My fellow Australian friends were very unsure of what decision to take in reaction to the outbreak. Most if not all of us underestimated the magnitude of the pandemic and thought that life would go on, albeit with news broadcasts talking more about Coronavirus than Brexit. Most of us hoped we could "ride it out" in Scotland and still have the holidays we had planned. There was some discussion of renting an apartment and living their together, though this was mostly just talk. Eventually, some of our Austrian friends decided to go home because they worried the borer would close and they would not be able to get back into Austria. This brought home the severity of the pandemic, and everyone was rather glum for a time. However, beer is a wonderful thing. Our Austrian friends left, and us Australians started to have serious thoughts about going home but no one wanted to be the first to say they would go because they feared this would be the straw that broke the Camel's back and their departure would precipitate our decisions to return home. I decided I would go home if one of three conditions was met, Australia announced they were going to close the border, everything in Edinburgh shut due to lockdown, or classes and student events ceased to run. Soon most student societies, of their own accord, elected to cease in-person events without official prohibition. Australia also announced a 14-day quarantine for new arrivals. Two friends said they had decided to return home, I called my mum, we both agreed there was no sensible reason for staying in Edinburgh no matter how much I might wish to stay. I thought I would leave within a week because there was much admin to be done, but the threat of their being no more flights into Australia meant my departure date became as soon as a flight could be found. One the day I went to fly home, my flight from Edinburgh to Munich was cancelled and I had to train from Edinburgh to Manchester and from there begin my airborne journey back home. Manchester Airport was the grimmest wait for boarding in my life. When I arrived in Munich nothing in the airport was open. My next flight was to Tokyo. Everything in the airport was open. I got Sushi whilst I waited. I got a lot, I was flush in the funds with 4 months worth of holiday money was no longer going to spend. I then flew to Sydney. And after that to Melbourne. Mum picked me up, drove me home and I got to see my Dog for the first time in three and a half months. This sort of but didn't quite make up for my exchange ending early. The 14 days in quarantine sucked. The documents I have attached consists of all the emails I received from the University of Melbourne regarding Coronavirus and students currently on exchange. I have submitted them because they document the way in which Covid has most effected my 2020. Fortunately, I have not suffered as have others. The phenomena of students being on exchange when a pandemic breaks out, seems one which is unlikely to have occurred before, let alone on such a grand scale. I have also attached a screenshot documenting a Twitter exchange with Melbourne uni addressing the fact that their international number was not working. -
2020-07-09
Covid-19, Education and Making Choices
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced almost everyone to make decisions, some small and some drastic. The following is a reflection of how my studies as an international student at the University of Melbourne, Australia were affected by the pandemic. The date is 9 July 2020. Covid-19 cases have been on the rise in Melbourne in the past two weeks. This trend seems specific to Melbourne as the rest of Australia seems to have the situation under control. I receive an email from the University. The email announces that the studies for the second semester (July to November 2020) will take place entirely online. The majority of semester 1 (March to June) had also taken place online. But students were hopeful that a return to face-to-face teaching would be possible given the relatively low number of cases of Australia up to late June 2020 (when the second wave started). As an international student, I must make a choice. To stay in Melbourne or to fly home. I need to do so quickly, since incoming flights to Melbourne had already been suspended, and there is no guarantee that the same might not happen to outgoing flight. In my case, returning home seemed the obvious choice. I would rather have stayed in Melbourne (a city I love!), but alas at least to return means to be closer to friends and family during these times. I write this in October 2020, the semester is almost over, and the number of daily cases in Melbourne has now dropped significantly (to single digits), after months of strict measures. For much of the rest of the world however, there does not seem to be an end in sight. Submitted as part of the HIST30060 Making History subject at the University of Melbourne.