Covid-19 Victoria: Your say on whether we’ve put pandemic behind us too quickly

After a tough couple of years, many Victorians want to forget the pandemic, but others say we shouldn’t be so quick to wind back restrictions.

With most of the remaining Covid restrictions being axed, are we being too quick in putting the pandemic behind us?

With most of the remaining Covid restrictions being axed, are we being too quick in putting the pandemic behind us?

We asked people their thoughts in this week’s Voices Of Victoria poll.

See if you can spot someone you know from around Geelong and Greater Melbourne.

John Clements, Essendon

John Clements, Essendon.

“No.

“I think everyone is glad to get it over with and get back to normal.

“I don’t think people want to think about restrictions.”

Loen Conners, Barwon Heads

Barwon Heads resident Loen Conners

“Yes.

“I know we probably all still need to be on the look out for things, and be alert.

“We still need to put on masks for travel, and obviously for public transport it’s necessary.

“But (also) probably not.

“There hasn’t been as many cases, and it’s starting to be a bit more normal.”

Olly Carroll, St Albans

Olly Carrol, St Albans resident

“I’d say yes and no.

“No, because it’s been two years.

“We kind of need to move on.

“But yes, also, because it was pretty deadly.”

Tyler King, Clifton Springs

Clifton Springs resident Tyler King

“I’d say I’m in between.

“It has been a fair while since the first Covid case came to Geelong.

“But the five day isolation being scrapped is too far.

“Isolation was the only way we were able to get over this pandemic.”

Adrian Borracci, Newcomb

Adrian Borracci, resident of Newcomb

“No, because I think it put an incredible strain on people’s livelihoods, for sure.

“There’s always going to be something causing the fear factor to be churned up.

“Decades ago it was AIDS … then it was Y2K.

“I know people are dying … but come on.”

Jo Healey, Warrnambool

Jo Healey

“I don’t think that we are, due to the fact that we did nearly three years of lockdowns and restrictions.

“Covid has now become part of society, so within that I don’t think so.

“We functioned as normal as we could in the environment.

“I’m glad the restrictions are pretty much gone, I’m very grateful that it is behind us hopefully.”

Irene Wilson, Ardeer

Irene Wilson of Ardeer. Picture: Liam Beatty

“I’m just going to keep listening to what my doctor says.

“I understand why we want to get things back to what it was like a few years ago, but my friends and I have to worry about our health more.

“All I hope is people keep taking it seriously and do their best to not spread it around.”

Jane Toblin, Inverloch (Bass Coast)

“I feel like in trying to forget the pain of the past few years with lockdowns and everything we have inadvertently forgotten about elderly and immunocompromised people. It must be really scary for them at a time like this when that last layer of security they had has been stripped away.”

“I feel like the only reason the government has done this (end mandatory isolation) is so they can stop the support payments which I guess had to stop at some point as there isn’t an endless supply of money but it just seems hard to fathom just letting go completely when the virus is still just as deadly as it was on day one for some people.”

“I don’t know if there is a perfect solution but I don’t know if it was time to drop mandatory quarantine. Hopefully people still do the right thing and stay home when they are sick and hopefully the support payments for casual workers can help most people do that.”

Elise Kyrou, Eaglemont

Elise Kyrou from Eaglemont

“I think it is time to do it slowly,” she said.

“As vaccination rates increase we should be opening up and living life again.”

“If not now, when?”

Anastacia Ntouni, Northcote

Anastacia Ntouni, Northcote.

“I don’t think we’re moving too quickly at all.

“The Covid restrictions shouldn’t have been there to begin with.

“One should decide for their own health without blackmail from the government.”

Nick Carpenter and Jeffrey Chua, Daylesford

Voices of Victoria: Nick Carpenter and Jeffrey Chua, Daylesford

Jeffrey: “I think that the pandemic will still be with us, and we’re still going to be living with it in the future. But even with restrictions lifting, it shouldn’t be a sign that it’s over. We may be easing into another phase of the pandemic, but I don’t think we should be forgetting that (Covid) is still around.”

Nick: “I still think masks serve a purpose and they have served a vital purpose over the last two years. I just think it comes down to personal choice now (if you wear one).”

Julia Channy and Tash Juk, Frankston

Julia Channy and Tash Juk, both of Frankston.

Julia: “We’re all vaccinated now, at least everyone who wants to be, so there’s no need for restrictions. Plenty of people stopped following the restrictions ages ago anyway.”

Tash: “Covid is literally like a cold. I don’t see anyone badly affected by it. Let’s just get on and live life! We can’t have restrictions forever.”