Journalists covering Covid-19 right now in Aus and especially Victoria - how are you doing? A thread of some things I'm struggling with:

Health dept both fed and state media staff are overwhelmed. This is understandable, I have empathy. But staff are being short, rude, and unable to even give an estimate of when or even if they will respond to questions in the public interest.

My other sources who are medical workers are tired. They're working and also contacted by media. They're the best in their field which is why people go to them, but even contacts I've got great relationships have grown exasperated, sick of the calls, and irritated by them.

Some of the very best experts who were great sources are now employed by gov. The gov realised they needed them. They're brilliant. So now they're gagged. They can't talk.

Then, experts I do interview are contacted directly by the public at their university email addresses which are often public and picked apart for even the most innocuous comments. Why would they keep talking to media after that, especially after an exhausting day on the wards?

If you ask questions and ask for evidence especially on Twitter people attack you for not following the rules and adhering to government. That's not the job of journalists; to welcome police enforcement and restrictions without asking for the evidence.

Finally, I have had people who don't agree with the experts I quote or my thoughts attack the public health units I studied 'you supposedly have public health study Melissa, yet clearly you don't know anything' and accuse me of wanting virus spread.

Add ton this keeping on top of the news, the medical evidence, reading scientific and medical papers, many of them rushed through peer review, and trying to get comment on that research, all in the context of hostile and exhausted government media officers and it's bloody hard.

As a result, I'm also short, snappy and overwhelmed at times. My tolerance level has gone way down. I imagine that's how many gov media officers are feeling right now too.