CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

As the nation locks in for a long winter indoors, hundreds of thousands of Australians are kicking themselves for not being more prepared.

As of 3:00pm today, there have been 3,966 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia. There have been 331 new cases since 3:00pm yesterday.

When considering the number of confirmed coronavirus patients has gone up 700% since this time last week, those who can stay at home from this point forward are being urged by government and their greater community to do so as much as they can.

Self-isolating at home is crucial element of the social distancing measures being directed by the Chief Medical Officer, and Australians have been urged to keep at least 1.5 metres distance between when around other people.

That is, unless you live with those people. Households have been advised that so long as the rest of your household is maintaining these strict measures, normal social engagement can be upheld. Meaning, mum and dad can still tuck in their kids at night, and teenage sons can still fight to the death over the playstation controller – and couples can still keep the fire alive – maybe even more so than usual.

But what if you don’t live with someone who isn’t a family member OR a significant other?

This is the question that has been on everyone’s mind in one adult sharehouse in Betoota’s French Quarter this week.

Kyle and Annabelle, until this point into self-isolation, have remained platonic housemates who really only socialise one or two nights a week in the living room.

While their relationship may be a deeply personable one, their co-dependence mostly involves sharing bills and rent – and occasionally offering relationship advice to one another. Their individual romantic exploits have strictly been shared with outsiders.

However, with a supply of toilet paper, pasta, hand sanitiser and tinned tomatoes that should last them for the next month of self-isolation – these romantic prospects are now thinning rapidly.

While the FaceTime and Zoom convos are all good fun – it has become evident to both residents that they are gonna be missing out on a fair bit of you-know-what during quarantine. Which is a shame, considering the two of them aren’t bad sorts.

It’s because of this incoming drought, and probably the two bottles of red wine they’ve shared tonight, that both Kyle and Annabelle have decided to start rooting each other.

While both seemed rather keen on enacting some sort of boundaries with this arrangement, there really hasn’t been much time to set them out.

This is mainly due to the fact that the moment this proposal seemed like a good idea – both housemates were upstairs and getting into it within minutes.

Following the carnal knowledge, Kyle and Annabelle appeared quite chuffed with themselves, as they rolled over to seperate sides of the cot and began sharing the news of their new arrangement in their respective group chats.

It is not yet known what Annabelle’s FIFO miner boyfriend who is stuck in his demountable accommodation in Woorabinda for the next couple months will think of all of this.

MORE TO COME.