Thousands of retail and hospitality business owners will be among the Victorians tuning in to the Premier's daily coronavirus press conference today, in the hope they'll get the green light to begin reopening from early next week.
Two schools have been closed and hundreds of people are in quarantine as either close contacts or secondary contacts, as authorities partner with community leaders to run a testing blitz across the affected communities.
Overnight and into this morning, the public health team has been poring over the latest batch of test results, in a bid to understand whether previously undetected chains of transmission across the city's north pose a threat to reopening.
Mr Andrews stressed on Saturday that authorities were expecting to see more cases emerge, but the key would be whether the infection source could be easily linked with each case.
"If there are no linkages — if they're not linked in any way — then that speaks to the fact that there may be more virus in that northern part of the city than we would be comfortable with," he said.
So with that big caveat well noted, these are the eased restrictions the Government has suggested could come next.
Hospitality
If things are looking good, Melbourne's hospitality venues are set to have a "dark opening" early next week that would give staff a few days to prepare their businesses before welcoming patrons back.
"It won't be that a whole range of restrictions come off from Sunday, it will be a lead-in," Mr Andrews said.
Under the updated roadmap released last week, staff were set to start coming back from Wednesday, October 28.
And then pubs and restaurants would be able to start welcoming back Melburnians from November 2.
Venues will be heavily regulated and will likely only be allowed to host 50 seated patrons outdoors.
There will also likely be a cap of 20 people indoors, with a limit of 10 people per room.
This expected rule has caused particular angst for smaller venues with only limited scope to serve patrons outdoors.
Many hospitality businesses have been in negotiations with local councils for permission to extend their outdoor dining spaces to maximise the number of patrons they can serve.
Restaurateurs and publicans have expressed concern they will struggle to make any money due to the caps on customer numbers, and have been lobbying the State to go further than what is outlined in the third step on Victoria's so-called "roadmap".
There was a hint from the Premier on Friday that the rules around hospitality might be lifted further than expected.
"Everything is on the table and we will have more to say about that on Sunday," Mr Andrews said.
Retail
So-called permitted shops such as supermarkets and post offices have continued operating throughout lockdown under COVID-safe plans, but general retail stores, such as shoe shops and department stores are expected to be able to reopen from November 2.
Like hospitality businesses, the roadmap suggests workers could begin to prepare for that reopening from Wednesday, October 28.
Density limits will be in place, which if the hospitality requirements are any guide, might be set at 4 square metres for every customer indoors and 2 square metres for every customer outdoors.
Special cleaning requirements are also expected to apply.
Beauty salons
To the relief of many, hairdressers were allowed to open last Monday, and it's expected beauty salons will soon follow, providing a face mask can be worn throughout the treatment.
That might rule out a chin wax, but many other services, such as eyelash tints, manicures and pedicures will be able to resume.
Building and other industries
While Melbourne's office workers are still being asked to work from home where possible, restrictions on other workplaces and industries are expected to loosen up.
Construction, including domestic building, is expected to be allowed to open with a COVID-safe plan, along with manufacturing and warehousing.
Repairs, maintenance and cleaning will also be able to reopen under a COVID-safe plan.
However, meat, poultry and seafood processing will likely remain restricted to less than 100 per cent capacity in Melbourne.
Regular surveillance testing, nightly deep cleaning, separating work teams into bubbles that do not come into contact and regular infection control training for staff are among the COVID-normal measures expected in high-risk food industries.
Weddings, funerals, public gatherings
From November 2, the limit on weddings is expected to rise from the current cap of five, to 10 people, including the couple and two witnesses, not including the celebrant.
The cap on funerals is expected to rise from 10 to 20 people, not including infants or people required to conduct the funeral.
Outdoor public gatherings are likely to allow up to 10 people from any number of households, not including infants.
It's expected two visitors to a home and their dependents will likely to be allowed each day.
Outdoor religious gatherings for up to 20 people as well as a faith leader are expected to be allowed, providing there is no sharing of food or drink.
Places of worship are likely to be able to open for private worship by members of one household and a faith leader.
No guarantees, but 'significant announcements' expected
On Friday, the "ring of steel" boundary around metropolitan Melbourne relaxed slightly to unite the previously dissected township of Little River, south-west of Melbourne.
The change means residents who were previously on the metropolitan side of the border are able to move into the same Step 3 restrictions as the rest of regional Victoria.
Mr Andrews said the situation was not the same for the Mornington Peninsula and communities in the Cardinia Shire in Melbourne's outer south-east, however, he said the issue was being looked at closely.
So too was the 25-kilometre radius travel restriction.
"I will have more to say about those arrangements on Sunday, 25kms, regional-metro border, all of those issues are being looked at very, very closely," Mr Andrews said.
Whatever is to be announced today, it's clear that the trajectory of Victoria's pandemic is going to be an ongoing factor in shaping a COVID-normal life.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTEwLTI1L2RhbmllbC1hbmRyZXdzLXNldC10by1yZXZlYWwtbmV4dC1zdGVwcy1vdXQtb2YtY292aWQtbG9ja2Rvd24vMTI4MDQ5MDTSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTI4MDQ5MDQ?oc=5
2020-10-24 20:26:00Z
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