Following on from prime minister Scott Morrison’s press conference announcing a three-step plan for Australia, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has told Victorians not to expect anything to change immediately.
Morrison wishes to achieve a “Covid-safe economy” by July of this year, starting with allowing five visitors at homes and reopening restaurants and cafés. The national principles are non-binding for states, which means it’s up to each individual premier to decide on a plan of action for their state.
Andrews announced today that the current stay-at-home rules for Victoria would remain in place for the weekend – which, yes, means you are not allowed to visit your mother for Mother’s Day on Sunday. These are currently the only reasons for leaving your house right now.
Andrews noted he would be making an announcement on Monday and multiple announcements throughout next week announcing the slow easing of current Victorian restrictions. His team and the Victorian health officer will be spending the weekend analysing the results of the current testing blitz taking place across the state.
Next week the state government will outline what the rules will look like for the remainder of May. And then throughout May we will learn about how rules will be eased in June and beyond.
“I know it’s frustrating, [but] now is not the time to become so impatient and so frustrated that we start to do the wrong thing,” said Andrews.
As of yesterday, May 7, there were 105 active cases in Victoria, including a cluster of cases from an outbreak at a Melbourne meat processing facility (see a map of active cases here). According to Andrews, 127,000 Victorians have been tested in the past fortnight.