Coronavirus: Melbourne city workers held back from office amid COVID fears

Workers in the Melbourne CBD will have to wait another week to return to the office, leaving small businesses hanging but hopeful of a swift recovery.

South American fashion boutique Melko staff member Laura Mosquera misses the usual business of the city and looks forward to the return of clients. Picture: Paul Jeffers

Small businesses in Melbourne’s CBD that were hanging by a thread during the coronavirus lockdown have been left devastated by news the Victorian government is delaying the return of workers to the city.

Roger Engstrom said his cafe, Switchboard Kafeteria — Melbourne’s “tiniest” cafe — “100 per cent” relied on CBD workers who pre-pandemic bought breakfast and coffee in the morning followed by lunch after 11:30am.

“I can survive until April,” the 55-year-old said.

“I could make between $800 and $2000 a day and (during) COVID I made $35 a day so that’s the difference,” he said.

“I have got three friends who had to close down already. Also, mentally, physically and family wise … it’s been pretty hard. (I feel) exactly the same but I have to put on customer service … I just put on a smile and try to be open.”

Victoria’s Acting Premier Jacinta Allan confirmed on Wednesday plans to defer the phased return of 25 per cent of the Victorian public service and 50 per cent of staff employed in commercial offices, which was due to start next week.

The government decided to postpone amid the Black Rock COVID cluster that held steady at 27 cases on Thursday.

An extra locally acquired case of COVID was also reported, not linked to the outbreak.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp said Melbourne’s economic recovery was pinned on effective management of coronavirus outbreaks and called for city workers to be let back into the CBD as soon as possible.

“City workers are a critical part of our economy and pre-COVID made up almost half of the city’s average daily population,” Ms Capp said.

‘It’s been hard’: Switchboard Kafeteria’s Roger Engstrom. Picture: Paul Jeffers

“We want to see workers safely return to work as soon as possible because it will provide a major boost to city businesses,” she said.

“We’re hoping that the most recent COVID outbreak remains under control and the delay to the return to the workplace schedule will be kept to an absolute ­minimum.”

Before the pandemic, Mr Engstrom said he could serve up to 100 customers a day and in order to survive Melbourne’s four-month lockdown he reluctantly had to withdraw money from his superannuation.

Despite an increase in customers in November foot traffic around the cafe — located in the gothic Manchester Unity Building off Bourke Street — had dropped again amid news of the latest coronavirus outbreak in Victoria.

“The CBD is going to be dead for a while … because of this announcement people got scared,” he said.

In a show of hope, South American fashion boutique owner Amy Melo said although her business also depended on city workers, she felt “positive” they would return soon and support local trade in the city.

“We are very reliant on both foot traffic from workers and interstate tourism so at the moment we have got neither,” the Melko owner said.

“We were super looking forward to things slowly getting a ­little bit better in the next few weeks, which is now obviously not going to happen,” she said.

Staff member Laura Mosquera said she missed the usual business of the city and looked forward to the return of clients.

“Absolutely we miss the (foot) traffic but I think it’s getting a little bit better,” the 30-year-old said.