John Ferguson
Coronavirus: Lockdown rules made to be broken, as Melbourne locals make their own calls
South Yarra is Melbourne’s Bondi.
Just before lunch on Sunday in the dead beating heart of what old timers might have called yuppie central, Domain Rd was a sea of black, maskless activity.
Scores, maybe as many as 200, gathered in tight groups on the footpaths opposite Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, sending a giant two finger salute to Spring Street.
There was even a touch of Gladys.
For no Dan rules are broken if one is maskless, drinking coffee.
But the social gatherings clearly failed the commonsense test.
Little to no social distancing, many breathing more heavily than usual having just finished the Sunday ritual of running or walking the 3.8km gravel track outside the gardens.
Domain Rd, the unofficial capital of self-entitlement, is never going to be the great Melbourne Covid-19 litmus test.
But the activities there add to a growing perception that Melburnians are starting to make their own decisions about what a coronavirus response should look like.
When Italy won the Euros, there were unhinged celebrations across parts of the southern capital, few masks and thousands jumping around mindlessly at the very point that Lockdown 5.0 was incubating.
The broader point of these two events — one in South Yarra, the other in Carlton — is that some people are either in revolt or ignorant; maybe both.
While Melbourne’s CBD was deader perhaps than it has ever been last Friday night, the community is starting to burst psychologically.
Certainly the young and the active.
What might worry the public health wonks is that these are the people who are most likely to spread it.
Lockdown 5.0 differs from most other shutdowns because it has started to infect in a potentially significant way Melbourne’s inner east.
The streets of Hawthorn, for one, are being lined with exposure sites after Trinity Grammar, an Anglican Church school with something like 1500 students, has been hit by the virus.
This has put many thousands of children, parents and contacts into isolation and left behind a trail of exposure sites, which include the private school takeaway strip on Glenferrie Rd.
While the statewide numbers on Monday are relatively positive, Dan Andrews would be smart to question how long his draconian strategy can last.
Or whether he starts factoring in that people have been held down long enough.
I for one, see the merits in short, sharp lockdowns.
And it’s not his fault that the feds have cocked up the vaccine rollout.
But people are tired and over the rules.
You don’t have to drive a topless Porsche through South Yarra to work that out.
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