Hume, Casey and Cardinia coronavirus hotspots unfairly treated
Struggling small communities on Melbourne’s fringe are outraged at being pegged as coronavirus hotspots — despite being miles away from any known outbreaks — as they watch local businesses suffer a downturn in trade as people are warned away.
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Struggling small businesses and communities on Melbourne’s outer fringes are furious after being designated as coronavirus hotspots despite being miles away from any known outbreaks.
Cafes, restaurants and holiday parks in Hume and Cardinia have already reported a downturn in trade, while holiday-makers from all six hotspots are being turned away from other parts of the state.
The national medical expert panel advised on Sunday that it strongly discouraged travel to and from the local government areas of Hume, Casey, Brimbank, Moreland, Cardinia and Darebin.
But Hume, Casey and Cardinia – which together encompass almost 2200sq km and have large rural communities mostly unaffected by COVID-19.
The six local government areas have a combined population of more than 1.1 million.
Several large family clusters are credited with people being urged to avoid entire council areas, leading to calls for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to identify Victoria’s hotspots by suburb instead.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier today said the policy not to link cases to specific suburbs was discriminating against ones with no active coronavirus cases.
Emerald’s Sticks and Stones cafe manager Melissa Surace said it was “absolutely ridiculous” the government had labelled the whole of Cardinia as a hotspot.
“We’ve had several bookings cancelled because of this, we’ve been labelled a hotspot but we have no active cases here, it’s just wrong,” Ms Surace said.
“We’ve been struggling so much during COVID-19, this is just another blow,” she said.
“This is the time to support local businesses and the government needs to have clear messaging and support us now.”
Emerald’s Damien Di Manno said labelling Cardinia a hotspot was hurting small businesses in the area.
“We’ve definitely seen less foot traffic this week, it’s really unfair for business owners who are working so hard,” Mr Di Manno said.
“This area is always busy with locals and tourists, so it’s really sad to see it like this.”
Amy Middleton, also of Emerald, said she hoped the cases data would become more localised.
“I think the data should be by suburb so you know where the cases are to be more alert,” Ms Middleton said.
“I don’t have a problem with their being hotspots as it’s better action to take than having the whole state shutdown,” she said.
A Cardinia tourist accommodation business operator, which did not want to be named, said travellers had cancelled bookings since the area was named a hotspot.
They said guests already staying there had upped and left when the announcement was made.
“It’s just ridiculous, it’s worse now than what it was,” she said.
A Sunbury cafe manager said trade had definitely dropped off since Hume was named as an area to avoid.
Sunbury is more than 20km from Broadmeadows – the major population centre in Hume – which is in fact closer to the CBD at 15km.
“For those coming to dine in has seen the biggest drop off,” the manager said.
“It’s absolutely a good idea to name the suburbs instead.”
Sunbury locals also took to social media to express their concerns at being lumped in with the rest of Hume as a hotspot.
“Sunbury is so far from the rest of Hume and a lot more rural than other built up areas, it would make more sense to list suburbs,” Melissa Marek posted on Facebook.
“(The) risk of transmission to all other LGA’s would be higher than the risk of Sunbury which is within the same LGA.”
Cecily Trainor said that those living in Sunbury were being “targeted unnecessarily” when other suburbs in Hume were the major hotspots.
“I’d think it’s in our interest to know postcodes so that we can avoid if possible,” she posted.
Hume Council voted to write to Victoria’s chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton on Monday night to ask that hotspots be identified by suburb instead of municipality.
Cr Ann Potter said categorising Hume as a hotspot had provided “even greater uncertainty” to its residents.
“Providing a breakdown by suburb provides greater clarity,” she said.
Recent known cases in Hume have been linked to an early learning centre in Gladstone Park on June 17, two students at St Dominic’s Primary School in Broadmeadows on June 15 and a student at Newbury Primary School in Craigieburn.
A case was also linked to the Sunbury Animal Hospital on June 17 but the facility has since reopened and said the positive test was a laboratory error.
Recent known cases in Cardinia and Casey include a worker at The Learning Sanctuary Pakenham on July 18, two students at Pakenham Springs Primary School on June 15 and a cluster of cases in a Hallam family linked to the Stamford Plaza outbreak was announced today.
Two aged care facilities in Cranbourne were also placed in lockdown on June 20 after a resident at each tested positive.
There is also an family-based outbreak of seven cases in a Melbourne’s southeast linked to Monash Health but no details have been provided on what suburbs are affected.
Hume currently has 14 active cases, Casey nine and Cardinia five.
The outer suburban municipality of Whittlesea has nine active cases but is yet to be declared hotspots.
The State Government and DHHS are yet respond to a questions about naming hotspots by suburb instead of municipality.
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