Back to Lockdown
As disappointing as it is, a “Stage 3” lockdown was going to be inevitable to stop the spread of Covid-19 in Melbourne.
The news this week that there were nearly 200 new cases of COVID-19 in my home state of Victoria in one day was both alarming and disappointing. Hopefully it’s not too late to step away from the precipice.
One of the key problems – in my view – was the somewhat laissez-faire approach to social distancing and disease spread that I have observed in recent times from some individuals. Initially, people seemed to be very good at staying at home, keeping a safe distance from others and using hand sanitisers when out. Not lately.
I have had to repeatedly tell people to “back off” at the shops. I have seen groups of people socialising at very close quarters (ie not observing the 1.5 metre distancing rule) and otherwise continuing on with life as if nothing happened. Most recently, I observed certain retailers at my local shopping strip remove their “maximum number of customers” signs from their front windows and tolerate crowded shops, whilst others have returned to imposing minimum EFTPOS payments and otherwise demanding cash payments for small purchases.
Clearly this laziness and lack of commitment from some members of the public and business community has put the entire state in jeopardy and now Premier Daniel Andrews has been forced to act, following the advice of Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brett Sutton. Whilst incredibly inconvenient and somewhat disheartening, I welcome the 6-week Stage 3 lockdown that will be imposed over greater Melbourne and the Shire of Mitchell. This will hopefully give authorities a chance to get on top of the COVID-19 menace and Melburians a chance to tighten-up their act.
Let’s hope we can really get on top of it this time.
Comments
One response to “Back to Lockdown”
It is necessary. With some exceptions, older people remained good at distancing. Young people and especially tradies did not. Chapel Street became threateningly busy, as did South Melbourne Market, just by sheer numbers. But they are not where the problem is. I don’t think it can be denied that our explosion of numbers kicked off, not from ‘illegal’ Black Lives Matter marches, but Eid in company with poor behaviour quarantine guards. Why didn’t it happen in western Sydney?