Today, Victoria's Health Minister listed four postcodes that recorded the highest number of infections over the past week: 3064, 3047, 3031 and 3060.
However one of those is not like the others, as 3031 is not a "hotspot" suburb in lockdown.
Where is 3031?
The postcode is in Melbourne's inner-north and includes the suburbs of Flemington and Kensington.
It hasn't been subject to the stay-at-home orders imposed on 10 suburbs this week, but borders suburbs Travancore and Ascot Vale in locked-down postcode 3032.
A large coronavirus testing site has also been set up at the Melbourne Showgrounds — a venue technically in Ascot Vale but right next door to the Flemington Racecourse.
How many active cases are in 3031?
In today's press conference, authorities did not detail how many active cases were in the 3031 postcode specifically.
The Government only crunches numbers for public consumption for priority postcodes (like the 10 in lockdown) as it would be too time-intensive for the public health team to release data on every single postcode in the state.
The Health Minister did break down the number of active cases in the 10 hotspot postcodes, which were:
- 3064 — 52
- 3047 — 25
- 3021 — 16
- 3060 — 11
- 3046 — 10
- 3032 — 9
- 3012 — 8
- 3038 — 4
- 3055 — 3
- 3042 — 2
Officials are constantly reviewing data — including the number of new cases, how they're linked and whether community transmission is involved — to determine which postcodes are considered priority areas.
However we can glean an idea of how things are tracking in the 3031 area from other available data.
The suburbs of Flemington and Kensington sit in the Moonee Valley and Melbourne local government areas (LGAs), which, according to today's data released from the Health Department, have 32 active cases each.
However there are other postcodes contained in those LGAs, including hotspot areas, and returned travellers in hotel quarantine are also counted in the Melbourne LGA statistics.
What could explain 3031?
There was speculation the Health Minister misspoke, and meant to say 3021 in the list of suburbs.
The ABC checked, and confirmed 3031 is indeed among the top four despite not being a hotspot.
Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said the majority of cases were concentrated in the north-west of Melbourne.
"I don't have exact postcodes for every case from the last 24 hours but certainly that northwest corridor, where the hot spots and the postcodes that have had additional restrictions placed, is still where the majority of cases are really concentrated at this point in time," she said.
Flemington resident Ruth Cook, who lives about eight houses away from being in the 3032 hotspot, said there was not a defining line between the two postcodes.
"I wouldn't say that because they live on the other side of Kent Street they're not part of my community — I'd say they're all a part of my community," she said.
Ms Cook and her family have been self-isolating after a child at Flemington Primary School tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week, and her three children are waiting to get their tests back.
"When this first started, I was joking with one of the mums that it was only a matter of time until we were all in it together," she said.
"Our kids all go to the same school, we all go to the same gyms, we all go to the same coffee shops, the same bottle shops, the same little grocery shops … we all live in a very tight-knit community."
Could 3031 become a priority postcode in lockdown?
Premier Daniel Andrews said the formula to determine if a postcode needed to be placed under restrictions had three criteria:
- The postcode is within a local government area where the case rate is more than twice the state average
- The postcode had more than five cases notified
- The postcode had a rate of cases of more than 20 per 100,000 persons
The Premier said the weekend would be spent analysing the data and the status of postcodes outside of those already identified and there would be "further announcements if we need to".
"I can't rule out further restrictions and we certainly can't rule out other postcodes on that formula being pulled into this," Daniel Andrews said.
"I'm not announcing that today, I'm not even foreshadowing, I am simply saying you can't rule that out because we are being driven by the data, and the data obviously changes from day to day."
But health authorities say no matter where you live, you should be cautious and follow public health advice.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiW2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA3LTAzL3ZpY3RvcmlhLWNvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWNhc2VzLWluLXBvc3Rjb2RlLTMwMzEvMTI0MjA4ODTSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTI0MjA4ODQ?oc=5
2020-07-03 08:22:42Z
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