They didn't have that in World War Two, although the footy didn't get cancelled then...

No, no, snap out of it! Now is the time to be focusing on what we have, not what we don't.

So I tell myself as I wait for the food I've ordered. It's hard not to look at some form of technology in the time between, now every new morsel of news promises to be more important and disconcerting than the one before: How are my friends coping? What's closing now? Am I caring about others enough compared to myself?

The pizzas arrive. The young man handing them out seems relaxed. He comes to the door, rings the bell and passes the pizza to me. It will be the last time I get one delivered like that for a while.

The night before, Dominos Horsham walked their staff through new social distancing measures, including "non-contact delivery" for home deliveries.

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The new way of doing it is to place the order on the doorstep, take a few steps back, call the person inside the house and then leave immediately. A high-tech form of knick knocking, in a way.

At the meeting, held outside the store on an empty Horsham main street, manager Ben French noted the business had been classed as an "essential service", allowing it to keep running while many others were being forced to shut.

"We will be doing a one-hour sanitise, so every hour the main screen locks out," he said.

"During that time you can't make any pizzas, and what we need to be doing is cleaning the sauce bench, cut bench, make bench, the front counter, EFTPOS machines and wiping the phones, cradles, touch screens, door handles and bin lids.

"We also need to make sure we sanitise the cars as well to make sure we are not passing infection that way. We are also working towards zero contact pickup orders. At the counter, there will be a one-and-a-half metre outline in safety tape. Head office wants that launched by the end of next week, so that will come in with zero cash."

Not accepting cash payments and no-contact delivery have been mandatory for Dominos staff since Wednesday.

Ben, who moved to Horsham from Tasmania with his partner last August, said it felt "weird" being in a business that was not only still open during the COVID-19 pandemic, but booming.

"We were up 40 per cent on sales last week, and we're now up 55 per cent on last Tuesday," he said. "I feel a little bit guilty I suppose, with a lot of people losing their jobs."

Ben said he had hired three new drivers in as many days last week, and planned to hire more as applications came flooding in. Nonetheless, he asked his charges to consider helping out the busy Firebrace Street store on their days off.

He said the store planned to deliver free meals to the under-pressure staff at Wimmera Base Hospital, Horsham's supermarkets and elderly residents.

"We are going to Woolworths on Wednesday night and plan to book Coles in for Thursday or Friday," he said.

One staff member, Justin McCallum, said he felt privileged to still have a job.

"It's good to know I'll still be able to pay bills and what not," he said.

Cameron Anderson, of Rupanyup, has been working at the pizza chain for six months. He said people in the Wimmera were still adjusting to how life was changing as more shut down measures came into play.

"The 'zero contact' stuff is taking a bit (of time to understand)," he said.

"I had one delivery the other night where a person requested zero contact delivery, but they came out and decided to have a chat for about five minutes. I've still got customers who in the instructions write 'ring the doorbell'. I still take a few steps back and ring up when that happens.

"I don't think people are worried so much as they are annoyed to an extent about how far it has gone. One family I delivered to last week was saying 'It's too over the top'."

Ben said: "If we are overreacting now, imagine what the situation would be if we under-reacted and didn't take precautions to make sure we kept ourselves and the community safe."

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