Hope returns at last after ‘pretty dark time’ in NSW Covid-19 lockdown
There’s reason to be excited and optimistic today as thousands of NSW retailers emerge out of stasis, eager to reawaken.
For months it remained a goal almost too distant to consider, too fanciful to savour. But the excitement built in Sydney on Sunday, so much so that a handful of pubs vowed to open at midnight to ring in their freedom with a celebratory tipple.
Gyms limbered up to once again pipe dance music through their studios. Salon owners polished their shiny surfaces, and across the city thousands of retailers were being brought out of stasis, eager to reawaken.
Nearly four months since the city’s longest and harshest lockdown was imposed, Monday’s wind-back of government decrees marked the first of a three-phase ending to the restrictions ushered in with the outbreak of the Delta variant.
From Monday, people who can demonstrate immunity will be able to once again share meals in cafes, return to cinemas and welcome up to 10 guests into their home. Weddings and funerals will return with density limits of 100 people, while socialising in groups of up to 30 will be allowable outdoors.
Monica Schnieper, owner of Pelle Designer Footwear and Accessories, in Sydney’s inner-city Paddington, said the lockdown had nearly ended her business of 25 years, but described a palpable excitement having returned to the suburb in recent days.
“For the last week, people have been walking past and looking in the shop window, knocking on the door, eager to come in,” Ms Schnieper said.
“There’s a lot of excitement on the street, which fills me with hope after a pretty dark time.”
To accommodate window-shoppers, Ms Schnieper placed two chairs on the footpath outside her store to give prospective customers a chance to try on shoes.
“I made a couple of important sales that way,” she added. Monday’s easing of restrictions similarly ends a requirement for mask-wearing outdoors — except for hospitality staff — while also jettisoning the mobility limits that confined residents to within a 5km radius of their homes.
Forecasts of driving rain did not appear to dampen spirits. The Glenmore Hotel in The Rocks is preparing to seat 400 guests on its first day of opening, its rooftop booked out with 100 people.
“We’re expecting big things,” said Lincoln Baker, the venue’s manager.
Covid-19 case numbers are predicted to climb substantially off the back of the increased mobility, but officials remain committed to easing restrictions further once 80 per cent of the state is vaccinated, and again at 90 per cent.
As of Sunday, some 73.5 per cent of NSW residents had received both doses of a vaccine, with 90.3 per cent having received one dose, according to federal data.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said Monday’s reopening was a “first step” towards mending the state’s battered economy, but he acknowledged these steps would test his government’s decision-making and become a subject of scrutiny across the country.
He spent part of his press briefing on Sunday wiping beer off his face after tapping a keg at a Marsden Park brewery in the city’s northwest that partially exploded.
He urged NSW residents to treat each other with “kindness and respect” during the transition to a vaccine-mandated economy.
“As we reopen after more than 100 days, we ask everyone to treat staff with kindness and respect when they ask you to check in or see your vaccination certificate,” Mr Perrottet said.
Modelling by the Burnet Institute released by the NSW government in September predicted a caseload peak of up to 2000 infections a day and intensive care units overrun in the state’s public hospitals.
Contingency plans were established to prepare for these scenarios but as of Sunday the forecasts did not appear to have played out, with cases continuing to decline alongside patients requiring ICU.
NSW Health said 477 fresh cases of the virus were recorded on Saturday, with 177 people being treated in intensive care.
Both are substantially lower than the numbers recorded across the past four weeks.
In Sydney’s inner-west Balmain, shop owner Peta Palomino, who runs clothing store Blokes Balmain, said local businesses were banking on a rapid return of customers. “I had planned to reopen on Tuesday, but customers have been calling asking when they can come in again, so I’ve decided to open up a day earlier,” she said, adding that some had resorted to unusual measures to purchase clothes in the meantime.
“I recently had a case where a long-term customer came to the shop front desperate for new shorts. He decided he would try them on over his trousers in the street. His wife was very amused and he bought three pairs.”
Nearby, Joanne Farah’s toy shop The Little Treasure Chest was forced to close and hand-deliver parcels to customers to reduce costs. The widowed mother of three said she had balanced homeschooling with the demands of the business, but it had struggled to shift to online sales.
“Business has been lost to bigger online companies during lockdown, so I’m hoping as soon as we open up, people come back and pick up their toys,” Ms Farah said.
Among attractions scheduled to return is Taronga Zoo, which will welcome its first guests from Friday, and whose staff have been working through the lockdown to maintain the health and wellbeing of the animals.
Brad Mackenzie, supervisor of the Marine Mammal Unit, said the zoo’s seals were among those that continued performing during this period for this purpose. “They actually didn’t stop training. Training for us and the seals is an important part of their mental and physical health,” he said
Additional reporting: Ellie Dudley, Joseph Lam
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