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Why my sister never wears a mask
And what it taught me about the UK’s failed response to coronavirus
“So, you don’t even wear masks” I say to my sister.
“No,” she says. “I do still see some people wearing them in the supermarket but otherwise we never do. There’s just no need.”
Apart from the occasional masked face, life for my sister Nadine has practically returned to normal.
Nadine lives in Brisbane, Australia with her boyfriend. Her state, Queensland, has reported just five new cases in the last 24 hours. In total, the state has recorded just 1260 cases of COVID-19 and six deaths.
Meanwhile, I’m writing this from my bedroom in London, the new epicentre of a powerful strain of COVID-19. From today, I will be confined to my tiny basement flat in yet another strict national lockdown.
With many London hospitals soon to be converted to COVID-19-hospitals, and countless lifesaving cancer operations to be cancelled, the situation feels like a repeat of March.
Except now, being in a state of perpetual lockdown is no longer a shared global experience. Countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan…
