Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has today announced some modest easing of restrictions for Melburnians, namely:
- Outdoor gatherings will be allowed. But it’ll depend on your vaccine level — those with no vaccine or one dose: limited to groups of two. Fully vaccinated: groups of five (but from two households)
- An increase of the radius for shopping and exercise from 5 to 10 kilometres
- An increase of exercise time from two to four hours
- The reopening of outdoor communal gym equipment and skate parks
- Personal training with up to two people plus the trainer
- In-home childcare extended to families where just one parent is an essential worker
- Real estate inspections for new purchases and ending leases
- An increase of construction staff from 25 to 50 per cent, where 90 per cent of those staff are vaccinated
The announcement came as Victoria today passed the 70% first vaccination threshold.
Below is the press release:
On the advice of the Chief Health Officer – and thanks to the 70% of Victorians who have had at least their first vaccine dose – we are able to make some small changes to restrictions in Metro Melbourne and Regional Victoria. pic.twitter.com/SNYaQBxXmN
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) September 16, 2021
And here is the summary document outlining the changes:
Here’s a summary of what’s changing across Victoria. An accessible version of this document will be available shortly from https://t.co/dGpPnSTHLS pic.twitter.com/y5vW4eO5dY
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) September 16, 2021
These are obviously commonsense changes that should have come earlier, in my opinion. I also believe the easing of restrictions should include outdoor sports (e.g. tennis, golf, bootcamps, etc), which are low risk.
Seriously, what’s the difference in risk between the below activities?
But after 228 days of lockdowns, I’ll take what I can get.
