A world pandemic, riots and the wrath of Mother Nature.
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Lockdown has been a necessity for more than one reason for Jessie and Alex Bitterlin.
It has been a safety measure against COVID-19 and riots in the city where they are currently living.
And to keep the couple on their toes Mother Nature also served up a challenge for them in April, which not only had them isolated, but actually bunkering down in their bathroom.
The couple, who hail from the Southern Highlands, have been living and working in the United States for the past four years.
They were only a few months from returning to their home in the Highlands when international borders were shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alex was in the final stages of a contractual commitment in the USA so the couple chose to "sit out the storm" in their Atlanta, Georgia apartment.
It seemed a good idea at the time, but they have since been riding a wave of challenges.
Although towing the line of every COVID-19 restriction in the city, in particular the "shelter in place" rules, Jessie has appeared to have contracted the virus that has taken a hold of many in the USA.
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The biggest catch is that while she has had all the symptoms, including trouble breathing at one point, she has returned two negative Covid swab tests.
"That is not surprising as the tests have a 30 per cent false negative rate," Jessie said.
At the height of being ill, Jessie was rushed to hospital just over three weeks ago with trouble breathing.
"I've had bronchitis before, but I've never had trouble breathing like that. I've never been sick like that," she said.
"I had no congestion, but I had a fever and headaches, and it felt like someone was standing on my chest."
Jessie said that the doctors had continually treated her as though she had COVID-19 even though she returned negative tests.
She described her trip to the nearby hospital that specialised in Covid as like "a scene out of Monsters' Inc."
"They knew I was coming. They met me at the door and turned Alex away.
"There was strict protocol in place.
"They were dressed in what looked like hazmat suits and they went through a series of preliminary tests that took about 10 minutes before they moved me into isolation so I was not in contact with anyone else.
"Everyone in there [for the virus] was put in a separate isolation chamber."
Jessie was ultimately sent home where the medical team determined she would be safer.
However, that required some careful procedures being put in place in the couple's single bedroom unit in a seven storey apartment block.
Jessie said she was isolated in the bedroom while Alex slept in the lounge room.
"We had to notify the building manager about my case and every time I went to the bathroom Alex would have to go in with mask and gloves and scrub everything for his own safety."
Such stringent cleanliness procedures were not altogether foreign to the couple who had been isolating in their apartment since March 2.
"We have been ordering our groceries online at Wholefoods and then we drive there to pick them up," she said.
"The staff at the store have a tracker so when we arrive at the store they load the groceries into our boot.
"We then leave the groceries at the front door when we return home and wipe over everything to steralise the packets before we bring them inside."
The strict procedure has left Jessie stumped as to how she could have contracted the virus, although she hasn't ruled out the possibility that it could have been picked up in a common area of her apartment block.
Jessie is now considered to have recovered from the virus with seven days' symptom free.
She was looking forward to getting out in the fresh air as "Shelter in place" rules had eased.
But her hopes of newfound freedom have been dashed once more due to rioting in the streets, and subsequent enforced curfews due to the recent death of African-American man George Floyd.
Floyd died while being held in custody by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who has since been charged with third-degree murder. Chauvin was filmed kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes. An autopsy has identified that Floyd died of asphyxiation due to neck and back compression.
Atlanta is one of the many cities that has had protests and rioting since the death of George Floyd.
The protests began near Jessie and Alex's central-city apartment on Friday, May 29.
Jessie said a curfew was brought into play with an alert sent to everyone's mobile phones at 9pm daily advising that they were "now in curfew and needed to go inside".
"At about 3pm on Friday there was a very peaceful protest in a park near my apartment, but things unravelled quite quickly," she said.
"By 5pm police cars were being set on fire and there was looting of the football hall of fame at a nearby college.
"There were things being thrown through restaurant windows and fireworks were being set off at the CNN Centre about 20 minutes drive away.
"By about 9pm we got word that they'd barricaded the doors to a nearby shopping centre because the looting had started to spread.
"And then things started to be set on fire.
"We could hear fireworks and constant sirens. We could see fire and two malls near us are now just shells.
"There are still protests down town, and near us is a quiet and tense environment."
Jessie said she believed the protestors had "every right to be out".
"It must be so hard to deal with such racism all the time. Something needs to be done," she said.
She also praised the "incredible leadership" of the African-American governor of Atlanta, Keisha Lancebottoms.
"She has offered a voice of reason. It is the sort of leadership that is needed," she said.
"She has also enlisted support from high profile African-Americans to encourage calm among the chaos.
"I think the curfews were brought in to separate the peaceful protestors from those who are looting and rioting."
Jessie said a sad sidebar of the current upheaval was that many businesses were suffering even more after a long shutdown period due to the Covid restrictions.
Oh and that additional challenge served up by Mother Nature...Well that was a tornado some time in April.
"I think I've repressed that a little," Jessie said.
"I can't remember exactly when it was, but it was in April. I remember gathering up our pillows and bunkering down in the bathroom.
"I also remember my father [who lives in Woodlands in the Southern Highlands] warning me that it looked like a tornado was heading our way.
"Fortunately no damage was done to our building."
In fact, 22 tornadoes hit the state of Georgia in mid-April. Atlanta was in the path of the storm on April 13.