Freedom awaits as Melbourne finally prepares to exit 16-week lockdown
Visiting family and friends at their homes will be allowed from Wednesday, but there are plenty of rules to follow if you plan to gather in the “most dangerous place” for the virus. Meanwhile, trick or treating rules for Melburnians have been revealed.
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Victoria has recorded yet another day of zero new coronavirus cases or deaths.
Metropolitan Melbourne’s rolling 14-day average is down to 2.8, with just six mystery cases over the past fortnight.
It is the first time Victoria has recorded two days in a row with no new cases since March 6 — 235 days ago.
Of the state’s 87 active cases, seven are in healthcare workers and two are in regional Victoria.
Five people are fighting the virus in hospital.
There were 15,479 testsconducted on Monday.
Premier Daniel Andrews said that was a very, very solid number.
“We’re very grateful that so many people have come forward and got tested. It gives us great confidence that these numbers are an accurate picture of how much virus is out there,” he said.
“But particularly as we open up, coming forward and getting tested as soon as you register even the mildest symptoms is critically important.”
TRICK-OR-TREATING RULES REVEALED
Halloween trick or treating has been given the green light in Victoria - but it must be contactless.
The state government has confirmed that trick or treating can occur on October 31 but not in the traditional sense because door knocking is not allowed.
Participants can leave individually wrapped lollies at the front of their property. However the government is encouraging people to hold treasure hunts instead.
The same rules apply to mask wearing and trick or treaters must stay within their 25km limit.
A statement released this afternoon said “under the Third Step in regional Victoria and in metropolitan Melbourne, there are no limits on the reasons that you can leave your home.
“This means that activities such as trick-or-treating at Halloween could take place.”
“Trick or treating should also be done while taking all the usual precautions that remain so important – washing your hands regularly or using an alcohol-based hand sanitiser, keeping at least 1.5 metres away from others and adults and children over 12 years of age wearing a mask.
People may not gather in groups bigger than 10.
HOMES THE ‘MOST DANGEROUS PLACE’ FOR VIRUS
Melburnians will be allowed to visit each other in their homes with strict rules on how many people can go and how many times a day.
Mr Andrews has revealed new social restrictions but has warned, “your home is the most dangerous place for the spread of this virus”.
Two adults and children that cannot be left unsupervised can gather in a household within the 25km radius once a day.
For example: two parents from one household can visit a grandparent with their children once per day. The grandparent is not allowed to visit another household on the same day they received a visit.
Mr Andrews also asked for people to keep a record of visitors that can be accessed by contact tracers if an outbreak occurs.
“These rules ... will remain in place for some time,” he said.
“If you are having visitors, you can’t visit someone else’s home that day.”
He said the home was dangerous because “that’s where people let their guard down and aren’t supervised. It’s not like going to the pub.
“That’s why there does have to be rules.”
“We will all be dependent upon people following the rules”, said Mr Andrews.
“We will be able to find a COVID-normal and we all play a part in that.”
He reminded people to wear masks, wash hands, keep social distancing and getting tested if they have symptoms.
Health authorities recommend visitors to households keep their masks on, with Mr Andrews urging people to “make the smart choice”.
Single bubbles will remain in place.
Mr Andrews hopes to reveal what Victoria’s COVID-normal Christmas will look like on November 8.
“We’ll give people as much notice as we can. It won’t be Christmas Eve to tell you the arrangements for Christmas,” he said.
UP TO 10 PEOPLE ALLOWED FOR OUTSIDE VISITS
A maximum of 10 people across multiple households are allowed to gather outside.
Mr Andrews said infants under one were not counted towards the 10, but children were included in the total.
“So, you could conceivably have, say, two or three parents and five, six, seven kids,” he said. “There’s no household limit. It could be four or five households, because it’s outside.”
Inside play dates can happen, but it can only be one household and another household, once per day.
An inside play date would mean both households are unable to visit anyone else or have anyone else over to their home.
“That’s your one event per day, tick, done,” Mr Andrews said.
“Outside, though, it can be 10, and there’s no household limit.”
MASKS AN IMPORTANT FEATURE OF OPENING UP
Masks will continue to be an important feature as Melbourne reopens.
Mr Andrews said masks served a very useful purpose.
“And if you weigh it up, you wear the mask but we can be open, and then take another step and another step beyond that, that’s worth doing, I think,” he said.
“But it is important not just to wear the mask. You’ve got to wear it properly and you have to be vigilant. You’ve got to take it seriously.”
GYMS A HIGH-RISK SETTINGS, MASKS ‘SHOULD BE WORN’
Gyms in Melbourne will reopen from November 8, but Mr Andrews said they were a “very challenging setting”,
“People are exerting themselves. This is an airborne thing, plus it’s on surfaces,” he said. “There’s only so much you can do to make it safe.”
Vic Health advised late on Tuesday that wearing masks inside gyms was preferable but did not have to be worn when doing strenuous exercise such as running on a treadmill.
But masks should be worn for bench weights, stretching or pilates.
“The rules and exemptions on masks remain as they were under the previous step of restrictions,’’ the advice said.
“Everyone over the age of 12 years must wear a mask when they leave the house unless they have a lawful exemption, for example due to health reasons.
“One of the exemptions is when someone is performing strenuous exercise.’’
VICTORIA’S CONTACT TRACING ‘BEST IN AUSTRALIA’
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the state’s contact tracing was now the best in Australia.
“I’ve been pretty frank about weaknesses or critiques in elements of our response right through, but I will say now, I think our case contact and outbreak management is the best in Australia at the moment,” he said.
“It might be biased, but it’s an honest appraisal of the fact that we’ve had to step up with really significant requirements. So, I think this set-up we’ve got now could do things at scale if required.
“But even more importantly, at the very low numbers, it is best-in-country to be able to respond not just in a timely way, but to do all of the things that are required to be able to go from time of testing to time of completion of first interview in around 24 hours is extraordinary.”
VICTORIANS MUST ‘REMAIN VIGILANT’
As Melbourne prepares to reopen for the first time in 16 weeks, Mr Andrews has urged everyone to remain vigilant.
“I know there’s a real buzz and an energy around the city and, indeed, the state today, because people can see what they’ve been able to achieve,” he said.
“They see what they’ve built and they know and understand that it’s come at a really significant cost. But we all have to remain vigilant.”
It was important Victorians continued to play their part by making good choices and getting tested.
“I know that’s not what people want to hear. They want to hear that it’s over. It isn’t over,” Mr Andrews said.
“There will be cases. Not every day will be zero. There will be cases, there will be outbreaks.
“We’re well-placed to manage those. But the management of those is a partnership.
“Not just the public health team, as big, as hardworking, as committed, as professional as they are. But every single family.”
Prof Sutton said our biggest risk was complacency.
A DAY OF ‘VICTORY’ FOR VICTORIA
Josh Frydenberg praised Victorians for the defeat of the second wave, saying: “It is their victory and no one else’s victory.”
“The pain, the cost, the loss of Victorian people. It should never have come to this,” the Treasurer said.
After Labor leader Anthony Albanese moved a motion to send a message to Daniel Andrews to congratulate Victorians on their sacrifices, Mr Frydenberg delivered a passionate speech which attacked the failings of the state government and demanded the hotel quarantine inquiry held further hearings,
He said Victorian students had lost “six months that they will never ever get back”, tens of thousands of people had lost their jobs, and more than 800 Victorians had lost their lives.
“It all comes back to the failures in hotel quarantine which we still have no answers for,” he said.
“Unless that inquiry asks everybody who was questioned to answer to provide evidence, we will not get the answers and the Victorian people will be left in the dark.”
Labor deputy leader Richard Marles said there was “hardly a precedent” anywhere in the world for Victoria’s efforts to combat the second wave.
“In my lifetime, I have never witnessed up close such an experience of stress within our society,” he said.
“It has changed life in every way.”
Mr Marles backed the state government’s efforts, saying it had been “a story of leadership” since the “dark days of July”.
“There have been mistakes and the Victorian government established a judicial inquiry immediately which is working through those issues,” he said.
“But the Victorian government has also been a source of crystal clear decisions at the heart of which has been the very best medical advice which has guided us from where we were back in July to where we are right now.”
Scott Morrison thanked Daniel Andrews for supporting the national cabinet’s plan to reach a national COVID-normal by Christmas.
“This Christmas I want Australians to come around their tables and talk about 2021 with positivity, with hope, with aspiration,” the Prime Minister said.
Mr Morrison also praised the efforts of Victorians and welcomed the state’s reopening.
“But I say this: borders and lockdowns are not demonstration or evidence of success. They are evidence of outbreaks that have got out of control, evidence of things that have not gone as they should,” he said.
COVID APP STILL IMPORTANT AS REOPENING BEGINS
Australia’s COVIDSafe app hasn’t delivered as much as Victorian authorities would have liked.
But Prof Sutton still encouraged people to download the app ahead of Melbourne’s reopening.
“I’d still encourage people to have it on their phone. Because as we go to pubs, restaurants opening, and a lot of strangers being potentially within 1.5m, then you’d hope it comes into its own at that point,” he said.
MELBURNIANS RUSH TO BOOK IN FOR A MEAL
It comes as Melburnians on Monday raced to secure bookings at pubs, restaurants and cafes ahead of their long-awaited return.
The easing of restrictions means venues can have up to 20 patrons indoors and 50 outdoors from Wednesday.
Time limits have not been imposed on hospitality venues by the state government, but Mr Andrews said he expected venues would set their own limits.
“I would fully anticipate, though, that that’s exactly what venues will do, because they’re constrained in numbers, they’ll want to have multiple sittings ... Some of the time limits were appropriate because ... you don’t have to be particularly creative to work out what happens if people are potentially at a venue for four or five hours,” he said.
“Let’s just say that their compliance might be expected to be a little lower by the end of the five-hour lunch than it might be at the beginning. And that’s not a bad thing, but it can’t happen, because it puts everything at risk.”
After more than three months of relying on takeaway only, the hospitality industry is bracing for a big appetite from people keen to head out for a meal and a drink.
Within minutes of Monday afternoon’s announcement, some establishments were booked out for the week.
Joe Vargetto, of Kew restaurant Mister Bianco, said he was “ecstatic” after getting a flurry of calls and online bookings from eager customers.
“I’m absolutely over the moon. I’m very happy to have survived and got to this point,” Mr Vargetto said.
“We’ve got to sort out whatever happens later on but at the moment we’re looking at the real positives of this.”
Chin Chin owner Chris Lucas said his CBD restaurant did not ordinarily take bookings but was rebooting the online reservation system it used in the brief period between the two lockdowns.
He said reopening was a relief but was “tinged with some concern because the limits are far too restrictive”.
“The main issue of 10 people per space means most restaurants and cafes will open on an uneconomic basis,” he said.
“I’m hoping this is a very small first step.”
Duke of Wellington manager Andy O’Brien said the reopening was “the best news we’ve had in a long time”.
“It’s fantastic being back doing what we love, pouring beers, having happy customers in,” he said.
Australian Hotels Association president David Canny said the plans were “a step in the right direction but they still do not meet the viability test to save our pubs from the debts they are facing”.
Australian Venue Co chief executive Paul Waterson said most pubs would not break even being open with such limited capacity.
He said he was optimistic of restrictions easing further.
“It’s not going to be ideal initially but we’ve got to be adaptable and run it as best we can,” Mr Waterson said.
“Most importantly it’s about getting our staff back to work who’ve really only worked three weeks in the past six months.”
He said many pubs were swamped with calls on Monday afternoon.
The College Lawn Hotel in Prahran was booked out 15 minutes after the Premier’s announcement.
“Victorians are really keen to get back into the pub, as we knew they would be,” Mr Waterson said.
Prahran steakhouse Angus and Bon was so keen for the reopening it has planned a ribbon-cutting ceremony for diners at 11.59pm on Tuesday.
Owner Liam Ganley said the reopening booked out immediately and he expected to be completely full all week.
“The phone’s been ringing off the hook and the website’s crashed since Dan made the announcement,” he said.
Mr Andrews was asked at the media conference about enjoying a beer and replied: “I don’t know that I’ll be drinking a beer tonight. I might go a little higher up the shelf.”
O’BRIEN UNAPOLOGETIC DESPITE LOW RATING
State Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien has defended the negative strategy against Premier Daniel Andrews during the city’s unprecedented lockdown saying his job is to hold the “government accountable”.
Following polling that shows a dire approval rating, Mr O’Brien came out punching on Tuesday and said: “People must be accountable for their decisions, and the job of an opposition is to make sure that governments are accountable for their actions.”
“I’ve always said opposition is about light and shade. It’s about holding the government accountable, and there are some people who perceive that as negative.
“I actually think that’s doing a job where mistakes are made it’s the opposition’s job to point it out.”
He also denied there was doubt in his leadership saying he was “very certain” he would be leading the Liberal Party at the next state election in 2022.
REPRIEVE FOR RETAILERS AS RESTRICTIONS FINALLY EASED
Retailers are breathing a sigh of relief that they can open in time to cash in on traditionally lucrative Christmas shopping trade.
Industry groups said Premier Daniel Andrews had heard the pleas of the struggling sector, allowing employees to get back to work immediately to prepare for Wednesday’s reopening.
“There is a sense of optimism as the whole of Victoria can finally get back to work,” VECCI chief executive Paul Guerra said.
Mt Eliza menswear business Atticus Finch had threatened to open on Thursday, regardless of the government’s announcements.
Like many small business retailers without the benefit of online sales, owner Adam Mackenzie said the store had struggled since it closed in July.
He welcomed the decision saying the business was just hanging on thanks to some click and collect, JobKeeper and rent reductions.
He said the higher-end menswear business had loyal clientele, and he was hopeful they would have pent up desire to buy clothes.
Kmart Group managing director Ian Bailey said it had safety protocols in place, including booking times, so customers could shop in shifts at Kmart and Target.
Kmart’s 24-hour stores, such as Burwood, will open at midnight to make the most of the eased restrictions.
“It’s been a long few months for all Melburnians and with Christmas on the horizon, we are looking forward to welcoming customers back into our stores from Wednesday morning,” Mr Bailey said.
Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra said there was no doubt that businesses could open safely but called for more clarity around what COVID-safe practices would look like.
“Fortunately, retailers are among the most agile business operators and have demonstrated time and time again through this pandemic that they can adapt,” he said.
Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider said, after being closed for almost three months, “we know many of our customers have projects they need assistance with and our teams have really missed helping them”.
“To help spread out visits and give customers more time to shop we will operate extended trading hours from 6.30am to 9pm every day of the week in Melbourne for at least the first two weeks,” he said.
The Large Format Retail Association pledged to ensure COVID-safe shopping in its 135 member businesses which include Harvey Norman, Spotlight, Beacon Lighting, JB Hi-Fi, Adairs and IKEA.
LFRA chief executive Philippa Kelly said the sector had been trading well in other states and expected Victorians to embrace the store openings.
“The announcement is also very timely for customers, who can now start their shopping for Christmas,” she said.
The beauty industry rejoiced, having been kept closed, even though hairdressers reopened earlier this month.
Brunswick Make Up HQ salon and training academy owner Sara Morrison said she had been facing foreclosure.
She was on Monday night seeking more information from Business Victoria about how operating details — including whether customers could take off their masks for lipstick to be applied.
“I am very excited to be opening again,” she said.
‘RING OF STEEL’ TO END AS FAMILIES REUNITE
Victorian families and friends kept apart by the coronavirus pandemic will be able to gather again after months of separation.
The “ring of steel” that has divided regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne since July will be gone from November 9 as will the limit of travelling 25km from home.
And as early as Wednesday, some extended families will be able to meet when outdoor gatherings of 10 people will no longer be limited to two households.
The four reasons to leave home will also be removed on Wednesday, affording Victorians a greater sense of freedom.
An announcement on the rules around people visiting the homes of families and friends will be announced by Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday, with the changes to be implemented from Wednesday.
“I know the thing many people are missing is having people over to visit but as we’ve seen, this virus is at its most dangerous when we’re indoors and relaxed and comfortable,” Mr Andrews said.
The authorities were still working towards a solution that was as simple, compassionate and as inclusive as possible, he said.
“We want to get this right,” Mr Andrews said.
“We do not want to do a bubble because we think that can be a particularly confusing set of arrangements for families, but we have not quite settled and we must understand, all of us, the most dangerous environment for the spread of this virus is in your home.”
With many families looking forward to catching up with their loved ones after months apart, outdoor trips such as going to the zoo or Sovereign Hill will be allowed, but indoor attractions such as museums, galleries and even the cinema will still be off limits.
Pokie machines across the state will switch on from November 9, when venues can open gaming rooms for a maximum of 10 people.
The reunion of families and friends would significantly improve the emotional wellbeing of many people, according to experts.
Australian Institute of Family Studies deputy director of research Kelly Hand said Zoom-style meetings were no substitute for real face-to-face connections with family and friends.
“Even the change from 5km to 25km in the last couple of weeks, we have all experienced the pleasure of seeing someone who we hadn’t seen for a while in person,” Ms Hand said.
“No matter how hard you try on Zoom, it’s not the same.
“A level of connectedness is so important for our overall psychological wellbeing.”
The relaxation of the social restrictions will mean many grandparents will be able to see their newborn grandchildren for the first time.
“Families have been very resilient and we’ve connected differently but it’s not the same,” Ms Hand said.
The increases to the number of people who could attend funerals and weddings would also give great deal of comfort to several family units, she said.
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