You don't have to look far to see the impact: millions of Australians have either lost their job, had to line up for JobSeeker, had to work on the frontlines during lockdown, suffered health issues or experienced a loss during the coronavirus pandemic. 

For many Australians, the COVID-19 crisis has completely gutted livelihoods, turned relationships and careers upside down, and imbued life with a sense of unease. 

Amongst all of that, though, there are the people who have weathered the past few months virtually unscathed - like the single house miraculously still standing on a street ravaged by bushfires. 

Sarita Moore, a public servant from Newcastle, wrote to Hack about feeling guilty about her luck during the pandemic. Here she is living her life perfectly normally, she told us, while seeing loved ones around her suffer from all kinds of hardships that COVID-19 has thrown their way. 

Obviously it's preferable to be this fortunate and to be so privileged, Sarita told Hack. But it's a slightly uncomfortable feeling - like awkwardly winning a prize you don't feel is particularly deserved.

"Everybody is going through some sort of personal change or experience right now," Sarita said.

"Not a lot has changed for me, and I don't know how to navigate without hurting others. I feel very privileged. 

"It feels like a bit of a lottery. I feel very guilty."

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/survivors-guilt-covid19/12341320

 

Meanwhile:

 

Meet the defectors who fled New York City.

Some are hiding out in their weekend homes, while others are emptying their wallets on Airbnbs or crashing on their parents’ couches. Some left the five boroughs in early March, before the coronavirus upended life and protests filled the streets; many more decamped for less-dense locales in the months that followed, during the peak of pandemic pandemonium.

Now those who left are contending with regrets both small (subpar pizza) and weighty (immeasurable guilt).

“New York City made me who I am, and now I’m leaving her? Did she win? Did she beat me? I’ve always laughed at the weak who leave and move to L.A. Am I less of a man now for leaving?” says Trey Ditto, 40, CEO and founder of Ditto PR. With his wife, Natalia, and their 1-year-old in tow, Ditto abandoned their Williamsburg high-rise for a cabin in the woods near Woodstock, NY, due to COVID-19 fears.

The nerve-racking — even identity-defining — debate about whether to stay or go is taking place online, too. A Facebook group called Into the Unknown launched in April as a forum for people “who have decided or are considering — willingly or otherwise — to join the exodus from NYC.” Its more than 4,500 members dissect the topic daily.

 

Read more:

https://nypost.com/2020/06/10/new-yorkers-fleeing-the-city-struggle-with-survivors-guilt/

 

Meanwhile:

 

The gym's management promptly issued an apology for a tone deaf offer, but their clients and the general public appear to deem it meaningless unless the people behind the workout description are sacked in disgrace.

A Wisconsin gym and and its umbrella company Anytime Fitness, which issued it a franchise, has apologised after an instructor offered clients a workout referencing some of George Floyd's last words - "I can’t breathe".

The gym said they "are terribly sorry for our actions this week by offering an ‘I Can’t Breathe’ workout".

"No matter our intent, we now recognise how deeply offensive our words, illustrations, and actions have been", staffers said in a statement on Facebook, followed by the top management of AnyTime Fitness. 

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/society/202006111079581567-wisconsin-gym-blasted...

 

The only people you should offend without guilt are the politicians...