Sydney lockdown: TikTok users confused about restrictions, Kmart, Woolworths, Coles

Video taken in a shopping centre has revealed the biggest issue with Sydney’s Covid lockdown as frustrated residents call for tougher action.

Frustrated Sydneysiders have taken to TikTok to question why clothing, jewellery and electronics stores are allowed to remain open amid the city’s extended lockdown.

For more than two weeks, millions of residents have only been allowed to leave their home for four reasons – to work or study if they cannot do so at home, to provide care or access healthcare, to exercise, and to purchase essential goods.

But questions over what classifies as an essential shop has plagued the city, with many saying the “partial” or “half” lockdown is contributing to high case numbers.

NSW tightened restrictions further on Friday, with the Premier urging all Sydney residents to stay home unless they “absolutely have to”.

Rug Galaxy at Westpoint Shopping Centre is still open amid the lockdown.

TikTok user livs1982 has questioned why clothing stores remained open.

Many Covid infections have been linked to shops during the first two weeks of the citywide lockdown.

TikTok user Livs1982 shared a video of herself walking through Westpoint Shopping Centre in Blacktown after a medical appointment, filming shoppers perusing clothes, stationary, rugs, jewellery, and electronics.

“There’s a lot of shops open and to be honest I wasn’t expecting it,” she said.

“We’re supposed to be in lockdown.”

Commenters said “this explains why the case numbers aren’t dropping”.

“It’s because we’re not in ‘lockdown’ we have ‘stay at home orders’, apparently very different things,” one user said.

“That’s because we don’t have Job Keeper and people can’t afford to be out of work now,” another said.

“Essential should be food and medicine. That’s it. Too many loopholes, we need a real lockdown,” said another.

Toymate at Westpoint was open when the TikTok user walked through the shopping centre.

Shoppers could be seen in Typo.

One user said she had spoken to an owner of a non-essential store “and he said he called NSW Health and they told him it’s up to him whether he wants to stay open or not”.

NSW Health has not published a list of what is deemed an “essential” shop. It has only stipulated what cannot open – food and drink premises can only open for takeaway, while entertainment facilities like theatres, amusement centres, indoor recreation facilities, places of worship and beauty services must close.

Grocery stores have remained open for normal trade, as have bigger stores like Kmart and Big W.

While the Northern Territory closed Kmart during its last lockdown and Perth allowed it to remain open for click and collect only, NSW and Queensland both allowed their state’s stores to trade as usual.

On Friday, chief health officer Kerry Chant announced Ikea, Kmart and a market were new exposure sites, visited by a positive case last week.

Dr Chant said she wanted everyone to ask themselves every time they set foot out of their house “can you do it online? Can you click and collect?”

“We do not want you to go out of the house unless you are very clear on the purpose and intent of why you are going out of the house,” she said.

Shoppers are confused about whether shops are open or not.

When asked on Friday whether all retail except “major department stores” should close, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the biggest challenge was the “lack of compliance”.

“What we need is for everybody to follow the rules that are in place,” she said. .

“We are pretty clear, I don’t know how much clearer we need to be. Please do not leave your home unless you absolutely have to.”

Dr Chant had been asked earlier this week why a range of retail outlets were allowed to remain open. She said the chances of the virus spreading in a retail setting were low.

“I think the issue that we have to understand is that while we have seen transmission in retail, it is still a very much lower risk setting than the other settings,” Dr Chant said on Tuesday.

“It is important … that people are able to go about and get essential products during lockdown.

“We do require people to apply common sense.”

National Retail Association chief executive Dominique Lamb earlier this week said the NSW government was right to prioritise the public’s safety, as the “immense costs” of the extended lockdown couldn’t be ignored.

“The NRA forecasts a further one billion dollars in lost sales for retailers in impacted areas,” Ms Lamb said.

“Greater Sydney is the biggest economic region in the country.”