Watching the COVID spread is all a numbers game

TESTING TIMES: The spread of COVID-19 exposure sites has forced many to get tested. Picture: Simone De Peak

THERE'S an old saying about Newcastle that it's just a big country town.

We're all seemingly linked by six degrees of separation. We all know someone who knows someone who knows a Knights player, a member of Silverchair or the guy underneath the Big Dog suit.

It makes it awkward burning bridges in business or having an extramarital affair. So I'm told.

That small town mentality has never felt more apparent than this week as the numbers of COVID-19 cases and exposure sites piled up.

Geez, hasn't it escalated quickly?

With exposure sites popping up like onion weed it's felt like every second person in Newcastle could be deemed a close or casual contact.

As I've sat tapping away in my home office this week, listening to the suburban symphony that is my neighbour gutting his kitchen with all manner of power tools and the woman across the street berating her teenage daughter in her Winnie Red-inspired contralto, I've watched Gladys Berejiklian's press conferences with growing unease.

It's led to my news junkie friends and I starting up a betting game of sorts. Like a morbid version of the old guess-how-many-jellybeans-are-in-the-jar game.

Picking the exact number of jelly beans from more than 300 kids in year 2 remains one of my proudest achievements.

Everyone of those 161 tidbits of confectionary tasted like sweet success.

Like a morbid version of the old guess-how-many-jellybeans-are-in-the-jar game.

Each morning before Gladys' announcement we submit our guesses.

Adam, who's a cricket tragic and quite honestly a bit of a sadist, always submits the highest number. "It's gonna crack the triple ton today," he texts.

Our accountant mate Scott, naturally scrutinises the trends and punches the figures into a spreadsheet.

I like to consider myself an eternal optimist, so I'm usually guessing the most conservative number.

Sadly this week, Adam's go hard and go big mentality is proving the winning formula as the Delta strain spirals into regional areas.

However, Adam's delight in scamming six-packs out of us has been tempered by the fact his wife is a close contact of a positive case, thereby he was forced on Wednesday to get a COVID test and self-isolate.

It's all about who you know, and COVID is proving Newcastle is just a big country town after all.