Ballarat’s Covid cluster hits 18, mystery case solved
Ballarat’s Covid cluster has hit 18 active cases, with one more overnight.
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Ballarat’s Covid cluster has hit 18 with one more overnight.
The Victorian Government confirmed on Tuesday, the cluster had been contained to six homes, with the Department of Health having identified 350 close contacts.
Ballarat’s GovHub, home to hundreds of workers, was listed as a tier 2 site on Tuesday.
There is one active case in the Northern Grampians Shire and one in Hepburn Shire local government areas.
It comes as the Victorian Government announced Greater Geelong, Surf Coast and Mitchell Shire local government areas would go into a seven-day lockdown from 11.59pm on Sunday.
Health authorities were on Saturday concerned about a positive wastewater result at Ballarat North Treatment Plant which had not previously recorded a result.
The Ballarat North treatment plant covers Wendouree, Ballarat North, Miners Rest, Learmonth, and Creswick.
The other identified Covid cases were all in the Ballarat South treatment plant area, which includes Ballarat, Ballarat East, Brown Hill, Canadian, Golden Point, Mt Clear, Buninyong, Sebastopol, Lucas, Alfredton, Lake Wendouree, Redan, Delacombe, Bonshaw and Enfield.
Victoria recorded 507 new cases on Sunday, with 84 per cent of cases in people under the age of 50.
Premier Daniel Andrews said boosting vaccinations remained the best course forward.
“Vaccines work, the vast majority of vaccinated people are protected against illness. “ he said.
“I don’t know how much Pfizer will be around next month, but I do know there are many AstraZenaca doses available right now.
“If we open up right now, there will be pandemic of the unvaccinated.
“When we open up again, there will be no turning back, we have got to normalise this.”
On Friday, Ballarat residents and businesses living in neighbouring shires such as Golden Plains, Hepburn and Moorabool Shire were confused about whether the lockdown included their shires.
Juliana Addison MP said the Ballarat lockdown applied only to those located within the City of Ballarat boundary.
Many neighbouring businesses in other shires have voluntarily closed their doors, such as Kryal Castle, despite not being required.
Kryal Castle general manager Bart Hamilton said closing was a tough decision.
“As we are located in Moorabool Shire we, are not forced to lockdown, we have decided to close down anyway,” Bart said.
“Well over 90 per cent of our employees live within the City of Ballarat so we need to be safe.
“It also tricky for us to trade without any customers allowed from Ballarat or Melbourne.
“It’s tough for us, right on the eve of school holidays, but we want to make sure our staff and the community are safe.”
Why Ballarat shouldn’t be locked down
Ballarat is reeling after being snapped into a seven-day lockdown days after restrictions lifted in regional Victoria.
Premier Daniel Andrews announced the central Victorian community would return to lockdown on Wednesday amid rising Covid cases.
But business owners and community leaders say the town should be freed given Geelong, another regional city, is running business as usual with 13 active Covid cases.
Ballarat has six.
Bunch of Grapes Hotel staffer Katie Randall said the situation wasn’t fair.
“Geelong has far more cases than us, and yet Daniel Andrews is targeting us,” Ms Randall said.
“This is not fair at all, we have just got out of lockdown, and now we have to go back to takeaway.
“All of our staff are struggling, not all of them can work during this lockdown. They will have to go without income.”
Genesis Body and Soul Ballarat owner Mel Tempest said the lockdown was cruel.
“It is hurting people … in the Ballarat community,” she said.
“We get a lot of calls from members who are struggling mentally, so that‘s a really big concern.
“Sadly we have lost multiple members, who committed suicide — that’s the reality.
“What‘s more disappointing is that we only have a few cases, but when you look at Greater Geelong … why is Ballarat being segregated and shut down over so few cases.”
Students and parents are also devastated remote learning is back on the agenda.
Airlie Laybourne, 15, is a student at Ballarat High School and said studying at home wasn‘t easy.
“Without people around you, you don‘t have that extra motivation,” she said.
“My friends are really supportive but I am less happy when I can’t be around them.”
Her mother Heidi she was “pissed off”.
“Ballarat is over 70 per cent vaccinated yet we are going into lockdown,” she said.
“What an absolute crock of s***.”
Opposition MP Louise Staley said the Victorian Government should not have rushed to lock down.
“Ballarat shouldn‘t be shut down — we need to learn to live with Covid cases,” Ms Staley said.
“We much more vaccinated now, vaccinations are our way out of this, and higher vaccination rates are meant to mean something.”
Wait times at testing clinics stretched more than six hours at the Marty Busch Reserve Sebastopol pop-up clinic on Wednesday.
Lucas resident Kerrie Gunsser said she spent her entire day in line.
“I had to wait six hours in line before I spent another two hours waiting in line at Skipton Street – there‘s not enough (testing sites),” Ms Gunsser said.
“I have been to two exposure sites in recent days, my elderly father is at home and I am waiting all this time to get tested to make sure I don‘t make him sick.”
Ballarat FIFO worker Brad Graham was also in line.
“I felt a bit under the weather, I haven‘t been to any exposure sites, I just thought I would do the right thing,” Mr Graham said.
“The lockdown is a bummer. We just got out and started to feel normal again, and now we‘re dragged down again.”
Ballarat‘s Annie Morgan also agreed there needed to be more testing sites in town.
“I was waiting to get tested for three hours … then came up to us and said they wouldn‘t be testing any more people, and I was told to go and get tested here,” she said.
“I’m an essential worker … I am trying to do the right thing.”
Ballarat mayor Daniel Moloney, who remains in isolation after visiting an exposure site, said it was a tough time for his community.
“There is a feeling of heavy fatigue in Ballarat, and our resilience is wearing thin,” Cr Moloney said.
“Local businesses have still not recovered from the last lockdown.”
Cr Moloney said council’s economic team had found it takes six weeks to recover from a lockdown.
The Forge Pizzeria was one of the businesses named as an exposure site.
Staff member Carlee Grant said she had been working round the clock since the news broke.
“We responded as quickly as possible, and the team was on the front foot as soon we received the advice from the Department of Health and Human Services,” Ms Grant said.
“Our staff are holding up well.
“It’s tough because they just got out of lockdown, and now we are facing this, but they are an amazing and enthusiastic bunch of people.
“We feel sorry that the mayor is in isolation (after visiting the pizza business on Saturday) and didn‘t end up getting any pizza — we will have to send him a contact-free delivery to keep his spirits up.”
Big W Ballarat has also been listed as an exposure site.
A staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, said the store was working closely with DHHS but said many fellow staff members were stressed.
“Everyone is freaked out, and we are scared of getting sick,” she said.
Nathan Tracy from the Lake View Hotel, another exposure site, said they had been serving customers lunch when the news was announced.
On the back of defeating its own outbreak, Greater Shepparton City Council mayor Kim O’Keeffe said she would reach out to Cr Moloney.
“My message to the people of Ballarat would be to stay diligent,” she said.
“One of the most important factors in our own outbreak was the fact Shepparton people did all the right things — isolating and getting tested.
“I’m confident the people of Ballarat will do the right thing because regional areas have shown they can beat Covid.”
Under the localised lockdown there will be only five reasons to leave home — shopping for necessary goods and services, authorised work and study, caregiving or compassionate reasons, exercise, and getting vaccinated.
Exercise and shopping will be limited to 5km.
If there’s no shops in a 5km radius, people can travel to the ones closest to them.
Masks will be mandatory indoors and outdoors – and there will still be no visitors allowed to the home.
There is a walk-in testing centre at the Ballarat Respiratory Clinic on Dana Street, and a drive through on Skipton Street.
Daylesford, 45km from Ballarat, also recorded a positive Covid case on Friday last week.
He is also in isolation.
Springs Medical Centre, Cliffy‘s Emporium, and Panchos cafe have all been listed as Covid exposure sites.
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