What would Australia’s contact tracing apparatus have looked like if we enlisted dedicated pros? That’s the premise of a shit-hot new sketch from some of Australia’s best comedic talents, who imagined a world where teenage girls were allowed to track the close contacts of COVID-19 cases.
Freudian Nip legends Jenna Owens and Victoria Zerbst star in and directed the clip, which highlights the kind of social media expertise Australia could have used back in January.
Without giving too much away, the sketch does a good job of wondering what would have happened if we ditched the COVIDSafe app for a more targeted contact tracing approach.
The bit, written by Bec Shaw and Nina Oyama, formed part of The Chaser’s War on 2020 livestream. That event was borne by the pandemic, too, with the comedy team forced to rework a 13-date national tour for a digital audience.
With that in mind, the sketch feels personal. If only the Tracies were granted access to Snap Maps when this all kicked off.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the contact tracing sketch comes at a pretty promising moment in Australia’s fight against the virus.
Victoria has now tallied upwards of 40 days without a confirmed case of community transmission, despite the pandemic’s harrowing peaks just a few months back.
Thanks to the state’s tough slog, and the efforts of other states to combat local outbreaks, New Zealand is even preparing to remove quarantine requirements for Aussie travellers.
Would we have reached this point faster if the average age of Australia’s contact tracing team skewed a bit younger? Who could possibly say. At least this sketch provides a portal to that world, and a reality in which the chaotic power of bored young Aussies is harnessed for a universal good.
