Bondi beach has been officially shut down with striped red tape and ramshackle fences blocking off its entrances. Bondi’s usually bustling streets of bars, cafes, and restaurants are mostly closed, with signs on their doors wishing people well and saying they will be back as soon as they can.

There is a palpable and inescapable sadness in the air these days…lost jobs, lost loved ones, an unknown future, and a bubbling global existential dread that most have never felt so profoundly.