Melburnians Are Facing Six More Weeks Of Lockdown, And Are Making TikToks To Cope
At least they've still got their sense of humour
Victoria, our condolences.
After just over a month of relaxed restrictions, yesterday Premier Daniels Andrews announced that people living in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire are being sent back to Stage 3 lockdown restrictions.
After the week we’ve had it’s not unexpected, really. Despite locking down 12 postcodes the number of new cases has kept rising, and NSW — not wanting a bar of it — has slammed their border shut.
Still, yesterday’s announcement had a lot of people feeling a little like this:
Yeah.
Yesterday Victoria recorded 191 new cases, the biggest jump since the start of the pandemic, and today their confirmed cases climbed again by 134.
The days of full-lockdown aren’t that far behind the rest of the country — but at least when we were stuck indoors, we could comfort ourselves with the knowledge that every single person in the country was more or less stuck inside the same hellscape.
Now, other states are inching forward with ScoMo’s three-step plan to reopen Australia. Restaurants are welcoming back patrons, clubs are letting people through the doors and airlines are chucking up sale fares to entice travellers to explore our own backyard.
If you’re in Melbourne, you’re stuck watching all this excitement from a distance. It’s truly a shitty situation to be in.
This time last month the entire country was slowly crawling towards reopening all eight states and territories, and the rest of the country is still cautiously working towards this, while keeping an eye on the unfolding trainwreck down south.
Victoria’s currently in a position that nobody wanted to be in as health authorities rush to try and contact trace a massive wave of new community transmissions.
But if one thing was true of our country’s first lockdown back in March, it was that the internet was suddenly a much more interesting place to be. In keeping with that, Melburnians are taking to TikTok to vent their frustrations.
Hey, at least they’ve got a sense of humour.
The Stage 3 lockdown will be reimposed from midnight tonight. Many of the rules are the same as the ones that were imposed just over three months ago with the first Stage 3 lockdown, but there are some differences.
This time, it affects people living in metropolitan Melbourne and in Mitchell Shire north of the city.
People there are not allowed to leave their homes unless you’re shopping for food and essential items, caregiving, exercising, or going to work or study. If you can work or study from home, you must.
You cannot have visitors or go to someone else’s house unless you are going to give or receive care — but you are allowed to visit someone you’re in an “intimate personal relationship” with. Hooray for no bonk ban!
Many businesses that have been allowed to reopen will have to close again — that includes pubs, bars, clubs, entertainment centres, cultural venues, and beauty services.
Restaurants and cafes will again be restricted to takeaways and deliveries.
Stay strong Melbourne. You’ve got this.