It’s a far cry from Covid cases but hit all the same

There hasn’t been a case of COVID-19 in Mildura for almost six months. Yet when James O’Day heads out into his fields at Millewa he has to wear a mask.

Riley, 12, Chelsea, 14, James and Tracey O’Day on their farm in Millewa, 40km outside Mildura and 600km from Melbourne. Picture: Carmel Zaccone

There hasn’t been a case of COVID-19 in Mildura, in Vic­toria’s northwestern corner near the borders of NSW and South Australia, for almost six months.

Yet when James O’Day heads out into his fields today at Millewa — 40km from Mildura and 600km from Melbourne’s latest coronavirus cluster — he will be required to wear a face mask.

“It seems a bit ridiculous to me, especially since we don’t have any cases,” Mr O’Day, a grain farmer, said. “We’re just people going about our daily lives and then we’re slapped with a 5km radius like Melbourne. We have to travel at least 40km to get anywhere. It’s just a bit over the top.”

Victoria recorded just two new local infections on Sunday — a three-year-old and an unrelated woman — who had attended a function attended by a staff member of the Holiday Inn, the centre of the Melbourne cluster.

They have been isolating since Friday, with health authorities contact tracing at Alfred Health, where the woman worked.

Despite the low number of new infections, Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton defended the tight lockdown and dismissed suggestions it was an over-reaction.

“It’s an awful situation to have a circuit-breaker of any kind but it’s done because we must get on top of this,” Professor Sutton said.

But the blanket statewide lockdown announced by Premier Daniel Andrews on Friday has proved especially frustrating in the state’s regions, where there aren’t any active cases — and haven’t been for some time.

Michael Clarke with partner Tamara Haakman and daughter Macy, 10 at Fawlty Farm at Lake Eildon in Victoria on Sunday. Picture: Paul Jeffers

Those frustrations will only intensify if the lockdown is extended beyond its five-day term. Many in regional Victoria have seen other jurisdictions introduce targeted lockdowns, and are wondering why similarly tailored restrictions have not been enacted for their city counterparts.

For Mr O’Day and his family, their proximity to the borders adds another layer of complexity.

Mildura is closer to Adelaide than Melbourne and Mr O’Day hasn’t been to the Victorian capital in years. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has brought those state borders into sharp relief.

“It’s a lot harder for us because we’re so border-orientated up here. The NSW border is so close to us, and Adelaide is our closest capital city, so as soon as Melbourne went into this, we were locked out of South Australia too,” Mr O’Day said on Sunday.

“And you feel like a bit of a leper going across the border, even though we haven’t had a case.”

It’s a similar story in Murrindindi, in Victoria’s high country northeast of Melbourne.

It too has been free from the coronavirus for months, but COVID-19 is again front of mind for everyone in the community as it endures another lockdown.

There are equal levels of uncertainty and anger for people like John and Sally Gilbert, who make their living renting out two holiday homes in the area.

They lost eight months of business to lockdowns last year and were just starting to make up some of that lost ground when the latest was declared.

Mr Gilbert said he was concerned about a significant loss of income if the five-day lockdown to midnight Wednesday is extended.

He and his wife have a large loan to service and a long backlog of deferred customers whom he fears may want refunds if another lengthy lockdown is enforced.

“They say ‘That’s it’, and there’s nothing you can do,” Mr Gilbert said.

“It’s just so wrong that the people who are responsible just walk away scot-free, and are almost congratulated for their management.”

At one of the Gilbert properties, Fawlty Farm, Michael Clarke and his extended family are managing to squeeze in one last holiday amid the lockdown.

Five siblings, their spouses and their children — 19 people in total — are staying at the property after they managed to check in before the latest lockdown came into effect.

“We decided we would stay here and ride it out and enjoy that time as a family, because we haven’t had the opportunity to be with family for so long because of all the lockdowns,” Mr Clarke said.

“The mental health, financial health and emotional health of people has just been shattered these past 12 months,” he said.

Mr Andrews, announcing the lockdown on Friday, said there was not enough time to set up a ring of steel, which divided Melbourne from the regions during the last lockdown, before it had to be dismantled.