Melbourne is back in Stage 4 lockdown.

[groovergirl]

Howdy all. I'm in Melbourne, and it's just been announced that we're back in Stage 4 lockdown from midnight. It's because of some coronavirus cases in a quarantine hotel at the airport.

We've done this before, and everyone was saying "You've got this, Melbourne!" and telling us how awesome we were. But we've been so awesome for so long, and we're all so tired of this. I think most Australians are prepared to do masks and practical precautions for the long term, but these sudden hits to work, school and social life are hard to bear. I couldn't see my family in Sydney this past Xmas because the border was closed.

Hand-hold, anyone? I'll be OK tomorrow. Just in despair now.

We've had a 5 mile rule.

Not in England, there's never been a distance rule

@DwarfQuasar

I’m confused about what it is that happened in Melbourne which was so different to our first lockdown in the U.K. (which was ~105 days

Lockdown started on the 16th March but they started to ease restrictions from May 11th - e.g. Outdoor sports allowed, garden centres open etc. so nowhere near 105 days

We started to open in July for 2-3 weeks and then locked down harder again until October/November

@DwarfQuasar

We've had a 5 mile rule.

Not in England, there's never been a distance rule

There sort of was last year. You couldn’t travel for exercise. Along with the “stay local” message. I think they were reluctant to narrow it down as some rural places would make it very tricky to enforce. As well as police not having resources to fine someone who wanted to go to tesco even though sainsburys is nearer.

It must be horrible to have that always hanging over you. I feel for you, OP. This crisis has been traumatic for almost everyone in different ways. It's not a competition, we've almost all been damaged in ways we might take a long time to fully process. Of course getting an announcement like that would trigger a lot of negative emotions.

A few months ago I thought I was basically feeling OK, then there was an announcement about slightly increased restrictions (I don't even remember what it was exactly) and I just absolutely broke down. I don't blame OP for feeling the way she did.

I don't want to sound critical but I think you can manage 5 days! especially if it is warm and the sun is out. The Lockdown here in London began before Xmas (& some parts of Egland have been locked up and the key thrown away since at least last July) and seems like fucking forever. Feeling so despondent today but by next Thursday you'll be free - as for us well we will still be in this shit until 2050 at this rate! Fucking half term with shit weather and nowhere to go except for another fucking walk! I'm never going for a walk for pleasure ever again!

@Sandsnake

After what happened in Victoria last year I think you’re more than in your rights to feel nervous. The good situation that Australia find themselves in came at a price - that lockdown was very strict and I imagine exceptionally tough. Obviously Australia is in a much better position than us. But they’re affected too - nobody really allowed in or out (really tough if you’ve family overseas) and the ongoing risk of another very, very strict lockdown if there’s an outbreak near you. OP - I hope that it’s a short and sharp one and you can get back to enjoying your summer .

Absolutely. It is not all sunshine and flowers, to keep the infection rate so low has been at huge personal cost.

@DoItYourselfNeverHappensAtOurs How awful for your DH's cousin, and for the family. I've been reading the news stories about how exhausted and overwhelmed the NHS workers are, and of all the non-Covid patients who have to wait and wait for treatment.

In Melbs we were worried our hospitals would be overwhelmed by Covid cases. That didn't happen, but people who normally would have gone in for a check-up stayed away, thinking they were doing the right thing. When lockdown lifted they all flooded in. My friend who's a senior nurse at one of the big hospitals said she'd never had to give so many cancer diagnoses in such a short time. The one that really broke her heart was a young man in his 30s with an irritable bowel. Turned out it was stage 4 bowel cancer, and there was nothing anyone could do for him.

The lingering effects of this will be huge, everywhere.

Surely this is a good example of why the U.K. needs to get the school opening right this time.
The immediate “everyone out” for 2 weeks is not helpful or sustainable for anyone

I'll be curious to see at what point Australia and New Zealand start to accept a certain number of cases in the community. It'll have to happen at some point unless they're planning to go in and out of lockdown forever more.

Thanks groovergirl.

@TheDailyCarbunkle

I'll be curious to see at what point Australia and New Zealand start to accept a certain number of cases in the community. It'll have to happen at some point unless they're planning to go in and out of lockdown forever more.

Probably after they are all vaccinated. Not sure if just adults.

Even when everyone is vaccinated there'll still be cases.

We started to open in July for 2-3 weeks and then locked down harder again until October/November

Do I need to provide links? Restrictions started to be eased from 11th May, they were relaxed even further in June, e.g. clothes shops opened mid June. Whilst technically they might have called it lockdown from March to July for a large part of that time the rules weren't that strict.

Yes there will

To Daily

My SIL is one of the quarantine hotel cases. It does seem to be a very highly transmissible variant as she caught it while she was there. There was a family recently arrived from the UK who had tested positive soon after arriving (I think) across the corridor from her and they think that she opened her door to collect her meal soon after they had collected their meal and caught it that way. So I can see how that would be worrying for local authorities, she didn't touch anything that they had touched or even in direct contact, she was just near where they had been after they had gone.

@Globe22 Yep, I can grit my teeth (what's left of them) and manage five days. When I first posted we didn't know the length of the lockdown, so apologies for my pathetic bleating. I was thinking back to the dark days of last winter.

We're all hoping the lockdown doesn't get extended. It might if the hotel quarantine keeps being breached. In the most recent case, the person was using an ioniser in his hotel room, as he was allowed to. He opened the door to the hall, and the airborne virus got loose.

@TheDailyCarbunkle

I'll be curious to see at what point Australia and New Zealand start to accept a certain number of cases in the community. It'll have to happen at some point unless they're planning to go in and out of lockdown forever more.

Technically Australia isn’t aiming for elimination, and every state in Aus is managing it differently NSW has had a much higher tolerance for community transmission then WA or SA.

WA holds a huge part of our mining industry which you could argue keeps the Australian economy afloat not something you want to see shut down by covid outbreaks. WA and QLD also have to consider rural communities and indigenous communities to more of an extent then some other states.

Vic is going lockdown because the wave we had was very close to toppling our health system, we really can’t afford to let the numbers grow either economically or health wise

blackamerican im sorry to hear that, I hope she’s doing well.

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar I'm so sorry for your SIL. It doesn't take much, does it? Is she recovering well? This new variant moves so fast!

@timeisnotaline

💯 agree. Lockdown anywhere is hard but complaining on a UK site where we have freezing weather etc. It’s been a long hard stretch here and envious of the great weather in Melbourne. Would definitely lift peoples spirits if we had some sun here

@DwarfQuasar, not including the Australia wide restrictions at the start of the year or the December restrictions, here's a run down

20 June 2020
Restrictions are reinstated in the state of Victoria
30 June 2020
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews imposes local lockdowns on ten Melbourne postcodes
4 July 2020
Two additional postcodes are added to the Melbourne lockdown, along with nine public housing towers, whose residents were not allowed to leave the building under any circumstances
7 July 2020
Second period of lockdown is introduced
2 August 2020
State of disaster is declared for Victoria by Premier Andrews, including the imposition of restrictions such as a nightly curfew, mandatory face coverings in public and the closing of schools and businesses
13 September 2020
‘Roadmap’ for reducing restrictions in Victoria commences
19 October 2020
Restrictions are significantly eased in Victoria.

For my friends and family in Melbourne, it is not the 5 days but the fear of going back into a long term lockdown especially with our government financial support ending in March.

DwarfQuasar

I’m sorry but the vast majority of restrictions still in place until late June (84 days), when shops were reopened (which I believe in Australia were open all along at that point?- I read this about Australia in the Guardian but happy to be corrected)
Hospitality wasn’t opened until 4 th July (105 days)

Children were still not back at school.

So materially, I’m trying to understand the difference. Garden centres and outdoor sport (in very restricted circumstances?) after day 49?

5 days lockdown to us in the uk sounds unbelievable , and yes you may of had 100 days earlier , but some parts of uk have bern under strict restrictions for almost a year and the rest of us 3/4 of it.
So 5 days to keep it from spreading sounds an impossible dream for us in the uk and you have the weather its -2 today . But I like that you have one person only to do food shop etc, we have people here who complain we didn't do this and that but seem incapable of accepting that going one person to the supermarket and not every day is how other countries have managed, they want the success of other countries but only restrictions that suit them.
I guess weekend as well so less school missed and hopefully your 5 days works and thats all you have to do