If one of us does unknowingly go down with coronavirus, we’ll have to go down together. How soon is too soon to quarantine with the guy you’re seeing? – the latest advice columns in magazines should read. Or, is he just dating you to get access to your toilet paper?

Welcome to dating in the new Melbourne.

“At least you’re actually seeing each other,” my girlfriend groaned at an impromptu sunny afternoon drink. “I hung out with a guy last weekend, too,” she raised her brows, “but it’s casual, and I don’t want to see too many people at the same time when we’re not even meant to be handshaking with strangers!”

We finished our apple ciders and pondered; how should us young, single people meet and ‘date’ new people in a global pandemic? Or should we all just… delete our apps for a while?

On Saturday, Jack and I decided to stay in. We drank peppermint tea and walked his sister’s golden retriever down to the park, and I told him about conversations with anxious five-year-old children in my class at work, a primary school.

The children had wanted to know about death. What happens when you die? Can you still hear things? I wondered how much COVID-19 media-saturation was filtering down to our smallest people.

“People have different beliefs about what happens when you die,” I’d told them, extra carefully, calmly. “Talk to your mum and dad about that. I think the most important thing to remember is, we can always send people love in our hearts,” I pressed my palms to my chest, and their little hands copied. “Let’s be extra kind to people around us this week,” I said. They nodded.