Lunchtime on Wednesday was a typical affair in Civic, albeit slighty subdued.
While many workers have moved to home offices, there was still a flurry of public servants out and about, marked by the black Australian Government lanyards they were wearing.
Outside was busy, with many sitting at various places around Garema Place. Mostly because people were enjoying the warm and sunny weather but some were outdoors as they found it the safest place to be.
About one in every 20 people had a mask on.
But many had contemplated the inevitable as they said workplaces had started to bring in measures to work from home.
In the Canberra Centre, people were still shopping.
Bronwyn Shirley was out shopping on Wednesday afternoon, and had bought a new pair of gloves.
While gloves are a fashion item Ms Shirley tended to wear normally she found they served a dual purpose at the moment.
"I'm still getting and about while I can, just taking precautions, I've got some hand sanitiser," she said.
Ms Shirley said she felt in the coming weeks places such as shopping centres would have to close.
"I think that's unfortunate but it's probably unavoidable," she said.
"It's a very fluid situation, I think it's very challenging, it's nothing any of us have seen in our lifetimes.
"It makes me wonder what it was like for people living through World War I and the Spanish flu after that, it really puts things into perspective because we are coming from a very prosperous lifestyle so I think it will bring out the best in people and the worst in people."
At the Alinga Street light rail stop, there was a steady flow of people who got off at the stop, fewer hopped on.
One of those was Cara Stafford who had to leave work to pick up her son.
The light rail was the only choice she had at that moment. She said her husband, who also worked in the city, normally caught the tram a couple of days a week but he had started to rethink that.
"There's a lot of uncertainty, it's kind of business and usual for now but I sort of feel like that's not going to last much longer," Ms Stafford said.
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At the Australian National University, the portion of people wearing masks was about double that of Civic.
But there were still many students around and many were outside, lying on the grass both socialising and studying.
Among those were Charlotte Midgley and Charlotte Raftesath, both first-year students who live at Burgmann College.
Ms Midgley said proactive measures had been put in place at the student hall.
"There have been a lot of measures in regards to Burgmann College because it's not self-catered, it's communal eating and dining so there have been a lot of measures in place, obviously strictly following the government's guidelines," she said.
"They are also trying to get people talking about other stuff. For example they had question starters for non-COVID-19 conversations at the dining table."
Earlier this week, the ANU said it would move most of its larger classes to an online delivery to limit the spread of the virus.
Ms Midgley and Ms Raftesath are from interstate and they both said if it got to a point where the university had to close they would go home.
"If the university closes I'll definitely go home because there is a concern that if we went into lockdown we would be stuck in a college without our family," Ms Raftesath said.
- For information on COVID-19, please go to the ACT Health website or the federal Health Department's website.
- You can also call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
- If you have serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, call Triple Zero (000)
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