There are nearly 7,000 active cases of coronavirus in Victoria at the moment with more than 400 people in hospital receiving treatment.
Frontline health staff are working around the clock to treat all these patients as well as everyone else who comes through their doors. That requires some staff to wear full Personal Protective Equipment for hours on end.
That equipment can cause bruising, dents and painful sores when they're worn for a 10 or 12-hour shift, but all staff crack on with the job because that's what's required to maintain safety.
However, the recent outbreak of people refusing to wear a face mask in Victoria has left frontline workers dismayed.
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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews introduced a rule requiring everyone in the state to don a face covering when they're in public. Some people have challenged that rule and objected to wear one because some feel it's restricting their civil liberties.
These incidents have sparked surprise and disappointment from nurses working across hotspot areas.
Royal Melbourne emergency department nurse Mel Pearson told the ABC's 7:30 that they don't have the liberty to take their masks off whenever they choose.
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She said: "It's a lot harder to just go pee if we want to. We have pressure injuries on our forehead and bruising on our chins and our noses.
"Seeing people in the community complain about their masks that they have to wear for half an hour to go to the shops is a little bit disheartening when our masks actually cause us physical injuries, just to keep us and our patients safe."
Mel was backed up by Western Health's Footscray ICU nurse unit manager Sam Bates, who added that anyone on the outside world who complains about having to wear a mask for an hour at the supermarket needs to have a rethink of their priorities.
"I don't care how uncomfortable you think your face mask is. I don't care if you think this is a conspiracy theory or some made-up hoax. I can tell you it's very real," she told the ABC.
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"I'm wearing one all day. I don't want to wear one all day. So please, if you have to wear one when you go out in public, just for half an hour or an hour, please do so. Every little bit helps."
People can now be fined $200 if they're caught not wearing a face mask in Victoria as health officials try and bring the second wave of new coronavirus infections under control.
Melbourne has been plunged into Stage 4 lockdown, meaning people can't travel more than 5kms outside their home, in order to prevent people from infecting others.
Featured Image Credit: ABCTopics: News, Coronavirus, Australia