Premier Daniel Andrews is absent from a coronavirus update for the first time in four months, as chief health officer Brett Sutton says Victorians have earned the right to "enjoy ourselves now" while taking the necessary COVID-19 precautions.
Follow Saturday's events as they unfold.
Key events
Live updates
By Simon Smale
Do intimate partners count in the one visit per day limit?
With the one household vist a day, does that count for romantic partners visting?-Wondering heart
Hi, Wondering heart
I'm glad you asked this, because this is a question that we expressly put to the DHHS earlier in the week in response to a large volume of questions.
Today, they got back to us (YAY!) and gave us this, 12 word answer.
"Intimate partners are not included in the daily limits for household visits."
So there you go.
By Simon Smale
By Simon Smale
Messages from those of you with family overseas
The message from Grabi a short time ago has struck a chord with a number of you with families overseas.
Thank you Grabi for saying those with families overseas need a little love too! I was supposed to be visiting my family in Japan in May. Now with borders closed I have no idea when I’ll be able to see them and I haven’t been over since maybe 2018. Besides my immediate family in Melbourne, they are all I have. My grandma is 94 and in good spirits but I just hope I will be able to go over and spend time with her once we are free to travel internationally again. I miss them so much :(-A
Thanks for mentioning and acknowledging this. My family is overseas in Europe, and while I'm relieved of lockdown here now, I'm anxious about them going into it with much more grave numbers than we ever had. My grandma died in August and both my and my partner's parents are over 70 and/or have preconditions. I am scared for them, and not even having the opportunity to go there due to Australia effectively not allowing us to leave is very hard.-Family overseas
My family are overseas & haven’t seen them for over 2 years already. Can’t afford the airfare to visit more often. Don’t know when I will see them again. It upsets me when people say they haven’t seen loved ones in months when in my case it been years....Trying to be positive though & am very lucky to have a wonderful partner... Planning a romantic Christmas just the 2 of us for the first time in 20 years!-Totally agree with Grabi
I am missing my partner who lives in China and was supposed to be living here I las planned for June 2020. He is American so stuck in limbo....we don’t want to live in America as we have a house in Sydney which I am now living alone in in my mid 50’s. We are the forgotten people that can’t see each other even though we are prepared to Quarantine as Visa’s are left on bottom of piles since early 2020. And had been extended from 48day approval to 6 mth approval which has also passed. How do relationships survive months & maybe years apart? I don’t know how to deal with this.-Louise
I hear you Grabi, I’d give anything for a big brother hug. We lost both our parents during lockdown and neither of us could be there. But I did witness 3 random acts of kindness today which cheered me up. Thanks to the kind people and a hug to Grabi.-Same same
Remember, if you feel like you do need support, there is always someone you can call.
- Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
- MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
- Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
- Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
- Headspace on 1800 650 890
- QLife on 1800 184 527
By Simon Smale
By Simon Smale
New venue for the presser?
Where was the press conference held today?-New stage?
You're right, New stage?
Today's press conference was held in a different venue to "normal".
Mr Foley said both his and Professor Sutton's offices were in that building, adding that it seemed an appropriate place.
By Simon Smale
A word about those with families overseas
Hello,Everyone is complaining about state borders being closed and how sad they are about not having been able to see their families, and it's perfectly understandable and devastating. However, no one is talking about those who have families overseas and how they will not be able to see their loved ones until end if 2021, if not 2022, and the uncertainties around it. It would be nice to get a bit if recognition too!-Grabi
Hi Grabi,
You're absolutely right and it's a big issue for a very large number of Australians.
By Simon Smale
By Simon Smale
What about yesterday's cases
Hi there, a short press conference is a good press conference BUT did the CHO update us on the two low positives reported yesterday? Were these confirmed as positive and if not will they be taken off our rolling average?-Kelly
Hi Kelly,
He didn't, but did say the re-testing takes between 24 and 48 hours, and that the expert panel will meet later today.
By Simon Smale
Increase in the number of recovered cases
There has been an increase in the number of recovered cases.
Mr Foley said this was due to a new determination on what constitutes a recovered person.
"The Chief Health Officer has put in place a rule that people in this situation will be reclassified as recovered after 28 days from their diagnosis," Mr Foley said.
"Ongoing data review has uncovered 67 cases that met this classification and these cases you will see reflected in the update on the website this morning."
Professor Sutton added to that, saying the following.
"In terms of those recovered numbers, really, there were thousands of notified cases for July and August.
"A small percentage of those — for reasons that they have changed address or phone numbers — were not contactable but it has been over 28 days since they were initially notified and are considered recovered.
"The great majority of people recover within 10 days so 28 days is a reasonable cut to reconcile those numbers."
By Simon Smale
How did Martin Foley start?
So did he start with “everyone right to go?” I need to know!!-Presser priorities
Sadly not, for those of you banking on that.
"Good morning and thanks for coming along," Mr Foley said.
He's his own man.
By Simon Smale
Overall numbers from Victoria
Here's a full list of the numbers that matter from the Victorian press conference.
- 71 active COVID-19 cases, all of which are in Melbourne
- 1 new case, which is a low positive result in someone from Stonnington who is in hospital
- 19,850 new test results
- 3 healthcare workers who are active cases
- 2 unknown source infections in Melbourne in the past 14-day period
- 2 people in hospital, neither of them in ICU
By Simon Smale
Press conference is over
And the shortest press conference in living memory (well, not quite) is over.
Short but sweet, can't argue with that.
Additionally, we can only apologise for lack of a YouTube stream for that presser.
We'll get onto our video team and try to find out why that didn't happen.
Believe us, we don't like getting abused by you all in the comments, so it was far from being our choice.
By Michael Doyle
Daniel Andrews did not give Foley any tips for the press conference
After 120 straight days of press conferences, you may have noticed Daniel Andrews was not speaking today.
I think we made a bit of a deal about it yesterday.
Anyway, Mr Foley says he was essentially thrown into the deep end today (not his word, my words) by telling reporters he did not ring the Premier for any advice on how to deal with these press conference.
"I hope the Premier is enjoying a hard earned day off with his family," he said.
On a side note: I hope everyone on our blog is having a lovely day as well.
By Simon Smale
Regular testing in the workforce will be a feature going forward
Mr Foley was asked whether standard testing was taking place at the moment in some industries.
He said that it was already happening in various high risk industries and for healthcare workers.
He said it would likely be a feature of working in some industries moving forward, given how infectious the virus is.
By Michael Doyle
Should Melbourne residents head back to work
Professor Sutton said if the current trends of low transmissions continue, people in Melbourne could slowly start returning to work.
He said more time was needed to ensure the downward trend of new infections continues.
"I guess it always depends on what the next couple of weeks shows and if the trends we are seeing sustains," he said.
"Obviously we have only gone to this much more open movement in recent days."
However, Professor Sutton said it would not happen quickly and returning to offices would be staggered and a slow process to minimise risk.
By Simon Smale
There's potential that there's a change workforce forever: CHO
Professor Sutton says that he's not a social anthropologist, but he said it was realistic to think that there could be a permanent change in the numbers of people working from home.
He said there are a lot of benefits to people working from home, such as not having to go on public transport or lifts, which he described as a "pinch point", although there did have to be an economic viewpoint as well.
"There is an economic activity by returning to work especially here in the CBD, and that should be a consideration, but it has to be safe and steady for sure," Professor Sutton said.
Mr Foley was also asked about working from home being a more permanent arrangement going forward.
He said that there was an economic factor in having people staying away from high density working areas and that this needed looking at in the budget.
By Simon Smale
Is the CHO concerned about behaviour over the long weekend?
Victoria has a long weekend this weekend, and the CHO was asked if he was concerned about people's behaviours.
He said that he wanted people to be outside and enjoying the sunshine.
"I think the great majority of Melbourne people know what to do. Some may be a bit liberal in their behaviour. I think it is appropriate for people to enjoy the outdoors.
"I would always urge people to do the right thing and the key things is not being out when unwell and obviously wearing masks but outdoor is a low risk environment and I want people to enjoy the sunshine, the company of others but to do it within those rules and if that is how people go about it, it will be a great day and I think we will feel the uplift with a public holiday where people are getting out and about."
By Simon Smale
Is the CHO concerned about people sitting in cafes without masks on?
A few of you have brought this up today.
He said that it was up to businesses to ensure that people did the right thing, as well as others taking personal responsibility.
"We are asking businesses to do the right thing stop the density quotient is one person per two square metres outside. That is a reasonable precaution but the individual has to do the right thing as well.
"If you're facing away from each other, the risk is much less. [It is] 18-20 times less risky outdoors.
It does not become so much of an issue to be in reasonably close proximity to other people but everyone should be aware of what they need to do and you should cancel that appointment, cancel that booking if you are unwell."
By Simon Smale
Is it safe to go and see grandparents yet?
Professor Sutton said it was safe to go and visit people, such as grandparents yet?
"We're saying you can go to another house within 25km. Use it as one household of two plus dependence. That is a reasonable thing to do," Professor Sutton said.
"We are doing that at a staged approach very incrementally because we do not want to see wholesale movement of people where it suddenly turns up in the numbers two or three weeks from now and we have a dozen cases that are right across Melbourne."
By Simon Smale
Should people be nervous about going outside?
Professor Sutton was asked about whether people should be going out and how they should be feeling.
He said that we "deserve to enjoy themselves now" but that he could not speak for people's anxiety about going out.
"We got to this incredible point where case numbers are very low and we have days of literally no true cases so we should go out, with all the precautions we talked about, but we need to enjoy our lives after three months of really constrained activity.
"We know how to protect ourselves. It is doing the right thing, wearing a mask, keeping a distance, making sure that if there are people unwell around us, we are not interacting with them.
"We need to remain vigilant because there are countries in Europe that were in a celebratory mood just a few months ago that are going through the worst times right now and that is because, as long as this virus is around in the world, we need to be vigilant and make sure we are on top of it continuously.
"That is our job but people can go about their lives with those change behaviours and I think people are doing that."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTEwLTMxL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWF1c3RyYWxpYS1saXZlLW5ld3MtY292aWQxOS1sYXRlc3QtdmljdG9yaWEtc3V0dG9uLzEyODM0MDI40gEnaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEyODM0MDI4?oc=5
2020-10-31 02:21:00Z
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