A local, family-owned pub has raised people’s spirits during South Australia’s most recent COVID lockdown, in an act that has spread across the world. The Bellum Hotel was among the businesses on the Limestone Coast that closed last week, but while it was unable to trade over the period, it decided to keep its patrons engaged.

“This is our second closure since March 2020,” The Bellum Hotel’s manager, Michelle Morris, told The SE Voice. “Last year we thought about how we wanted to post on Facebook during the periods of isolation and while our hotel was closed.”

Ms Morris said the family-owned pub decided to approach the pandemic with a sense of humour and give patrons a laugh, “to connect through humour that we were all in this together.” “We have taken the same approach for this July 2021 lockdown, which has been difficult for people in regional SA where, thankfully, there is no outbreak of the Delta strain,” she said.

So on Saturday, The Bellum Hotel put a post on its Facebook page, which joked people should check on their sister-in-law because they’re “stuck at home with your brother”, and it went viral. According to Ms Morris, within a day the post reached more than 88,000 people, engaged over 27,000 people, and had more than 4300 comments and 191 shares.

“Humour definitely keeps us connected while home alone, and it’s great to see so many people checking in on each other during what can be a stressful and lonely time for many,” she said. “We are so happy that we can make a small difference in our community during this unpredictable and very difficult time.”