customers stand by empty supermarket shelves
(Image: AAP/James Gourley)

What happens if we keep reporting COVID-19 the way we are? Take these headlines, published yesterday:

  • "Over 100 forced to isolate after second hotel quarantine worker tests positive for COVID-19"
  • “Hotel worker tests positive for coronavirus"
  • “Sydney and Melbourne on alert over COVID cases as Australian Open begins"
  • “Quarantine crackdown"
  • “One positive case after leaving NSW quarantine"
  • “UK passengers could have to take FOUR coronavirus tests -- and pay for them all"
  • “Extra troops on their way to Victoria to help bolster hotel quarantine."

Two issues should leap out at all of us. Firstly, the absolute lack of humanity that now dominates coverage focused on international deaths, tests, air-conditioning systems and quarantine breaches.

Where are the people at the centre of all of this?