Yesterday I needed to make the hard decision whether I should leave Australia or not. Better leave, while there are still flights? Better leave, while there is another country which did not close its borders yet? Better flee to a country with a better health system? Better rescue myself and go to a country which keeps the virus in check? Ironically, Hong Kong would be the much better choice now than Australia. Looking around, it is obvious that Australia will face the same fate as Italy and Germany. But if I decide to stay, when will I be able to go back to Germany again?
My personal deadline to fly out was Sunday. I decided this on Wednesday based on the data and estimated that I would not be allowed to enter Singapore or Hong Kong any more after this Sunday without going into quarantine. Although still at 385, infections rose exponentially and it was foreseeable that all countries would soon require all people coming from Australia to go into a 14 day quarantine. In case there is still an airline that allows people from Australia to board the plane.
On the other hand, I planned to travel until the end of April. Is there any reason not to do it? Maybe I get better medical treatment, if I should need it, in another country. Maybe I get infected here, because new infections go through the roof. Am I putting my health at risk?! I decided to stay. Things are bad at the moment, but there is still a day after tomorrow and we continue with our lives, as long as we are responsible, do the reasonable thing, protect ourselves and care for one another.
Thinking about it more, it turns out that deciding to leave would be the same reasoning as stockpiling toilet paper. The world is not coming to an end!
Am I crazy? With all that is happening, I continue with my travels? I am not. I am here now and it is most likely more risky to catch the virus on two long haul flights than by staying and keeping my distance right now.
Unfortunately, I needed to do some shopping.
Sitting on the tram in Melbourne, there was a guy sitting across from me, chewing on his dirty fingernails. I am the shy guy, otherwise I would have shouted: “You stupid idiot!” Instead, I said nothing. Should I have said something? Most people I see in the city did not get the message. I cannot talk to everybody. How should I say it?! Is it polite to remind people of their body hygiene or their behaviour? In the end, I blamed myself for not having said something. For not at least having tried. If one who is infected infects at least three others, how about the figure of a (maybe) not infected person talking to at least 10 others, to prevent them from being infected?
On the way back in the tram, a big family entered. A mum with three girls and a son. They sat down and started munching on their fries and burgers. WITH THEIR FINGERS! I could not hold back and tried my luck: “Sorry, awww, sorry, may I ask you a question?” - “Sure!” - “Did you wash your hands before you started eating?” The mum immediately shot out: “Yes!!!” and I responded: “Very good!” I did not go all the way into a discussion whether they were sure that they did not touch anything contaminated between washing and entering the tram. That would be too much for everybody and especially for me. I played with my phone and observed what happened. Interestingly, the joyful munching came to an end after a few more bites.
When entering the accommodation, the neighbour taking the same lift up approached me, because he was irritated about me wearing a face mask: “Do you know that wearing face masks only makes sense for people who are infected?” I answered: “How do you know that I am not infected? I don’t test it every day!” A fruitful discussion arose, with a typical argument I hear quite often here in Australia: “The government is not doing enough!” I got a bit angry and said: “Why do we need the government, when everybody can do the reasonable thing?” Blaming and waiting does not help anything.
My decision: Speaking with people about their body hygiene and protective behaviour is the right thing to do, simply because it’s affecting my personal health and everyone else’s. My life is in the hands of you guys, Australians! We are all in this together! Can you please do better than Germany?!
It turns out that a stubborn and logically thinking German is actually in a place where that line of thinking seems to be needed the most!
Update 2026: Typo and wording fixes, switch to UK English.