Mother's Day 2020: The message will make it past…

Mother's Day 2020: The message will make it past plastic screens and face masks

ACROSS THE DIVIDE: Branko Milenovic visits his mother, Mirjana Milenovic, in a marquee with a plastic divider, set by an aged care centre to allow family visits when the centre is still effectively in lockdown. Picture: Elesa Kurtz, ACM

MOTHER'S Day is marked on a range of dates around the world, from as early as February in Norway to as late as December in Indonesia.

For us, and for about half of the world's nations, it falls on the second Sunday in May, which is tomorrow.

Like other annual celebrations, Mother's Day tends to reflect the times in which it occurs: in wartime, solemnity, in new peace, joyous reunion.

This year, almost every aspect of our lives is reflected through the prism of coronavirus, and Mother's Day will be no exception.

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Whether it's government limits on the size of gatherings, or infection-control measures such as the screened visit pictured, the aim is to ensure that the best of intentions tomorrow do not result in the worst of outcomes.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison unveiled Australia's three-step plan to reopening our economy and our society, as the acute threat from COVID-19 that has gripped the nation since early in the year eases into something that is still unprecedented, but less demanding on the bulk of the population.

Other nations are also easing restrictions in their own ways, but few of these countries are doing so with the peak of their infections so far behind them.

As we observed here on Tuesday, more than 30 nations are still in the rising phase of infections, while more than 20 are still plateauing, or declining slightly, at best.

Countries on every continent (Antarctica excepted) have more cases than the 6914, with 97 deaths, that have Australia in 49^th position, and falling, on the Johns Hopkins University global coronavirus dashboard.

Our politicians can sometimes be embarrassingly easy with the phrase "world class", but to the extent that our numerically mild bout of COVID-19 can be attributed to human intervention, we have indeed done extraordinarily well.

Our governments, advised by armies of health experts, have designed an array of coronavirus policies and interventions, but it's been a more anonymous workforce of nurses, doctors, ambulance officers, cleaners, delivery drivers - the list goes on - who have turned theory into overwhelmingly positive practice.

Many of these coronavirus crusaders will also be mothers.

To you, we say thank you, and we hope you have the day off.

To mothers everywhere, we say Happy Mother's Day.

You're invaluable.

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