Coronavirus: Last hugs before going back into isolation

Mary Lawrence met daughter Renae Kessman and her granddaughters for a final stroll before lockdown began at midnight.

Renae Kenessy, second from the left, and daughters Sophie, 2, and Olivia, 4, spend precious time with their nonna, Mary Lawrence, before lockdown. Picture: Aaron Francis

Ahead of being forced to spend a month apart, Mary Lawrence met daughter Renae Kessman and her granddaughters Olivia, four, and Sophie, two, by the Maribyrnong River for a final stroll before lockdown began at midnight.

The Maribyrnong resident is among the more than 300,000 Melburnians who will retreat back into stage three social-distancing restrictions after the Victorian government ordered the shutdown of 10 hotspot postcodes in a bid to suppress a second wave of the coronavirus.

Ms Lawrence said she was surprised when she heard her suburb would be captured by the second shutdown. “I’ll do what I have to do but today we are getting together for a bike ride because I won’t be seeing them for a month,” she said.

On Wednesday, residents in the 10 hotspot postcodes ordered shut by the Victorian government bade farewell to their families and loved ones as they prepared to return to living under stage three restrictions for at least four weeks.

On Thursday, Victoria Police will begin patrolling the borders of the 37 suburbs to ensure the residents stay put.

Ms Kessman, who lives in Pascoe Vale South, which is not being locked down, said her family were still largely living under stage three restrictions by choice.

“Whether or not they want to call this a second wave is whoever’s business,” she said. “I’m home-schooling and just doing what’s right for our family.”

The Maribyrnong River runs through Melbourne’s western suburbs, which along with the north has experienced rising numbers of cases of the coronavirus. Riverside suburbs shut down include Maribyrnong, Ascot Vale and Braybrook, while their counterparts Footscray and Flemington can proceed under softened social-distancing restrictions.

The 10 affected postcodes are 3012, 3021, 3032, 3038, 3042, 3046, 3047, 3055, 3060 and 3064.

For West Footscray flatmates Anna Almberg and Joshua Addley, both 24, being caught in the Victorian government’s postcode shutdown is a somewhat frightening wake-up call.

Mr Addley said he was scared of becoming one of the ­rising number of coronavirus cases, as well as of any further ­delays to the return of normal life.

“I’m scared of being one of the 70 people a day getting the coronavirus,” he said.

Mr Addley is keen to return to work as a bartender and is being kept afloat by the federal government’s JobSeeker program after he failed to qualify for JobKeeper.

“I just want to get back to work,” he said.

“I’m bored — and I don’t say I want to get back to work ever. I hate work.”