On Monday Daniel Andrews said he would lay out Victoria’s “roadmap” out of lockdown on Sunday.
This will come just one week before the end of stage-four lockdowns in Melbourne on 13 September, with the premier citing the need to gain an additional week’s worth of data before any final decisions are made.
His announcement came after the federal treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, criticised the state’s leader for not providing enough clarity to Victorian businesses.
While many of the roadmap’s finer details are still under consideration, the premier alluded to some of its contents. Here is everything we know so far.
How many roadmaps will there be?
On Tuesday Andrews confirmed there would be at least two roadmaps for Victoria. One covering Melbourne and the other concerning the state’s regional communities and cities.
This is due to the low case numbers outside Melbourne.
Regional Victoria entered into stage three lockdowns at the same time the capital city went into stage four, and restrictions such as the curfew or 5km travel limit have never been applied.
It now appears that these communities may be allowed to ease out of social distancing rules at a faster rate.
What will the roadmap look like?
It appears it will lay out a rough timeline of when certain sectors of the economy can reopen, and what Covid-safe changes will be required when they do.
For example, Andrews suggested that when cafes are allowed to reopen there would be particular attention on ensuring that people could dine outdoors, with considerable space between tables.
The roadmap will also outline restrictions for individuals, including when people will be allowed to have guests in their homes, and when the 5km travel limit will be lifted for those in Melbourne.
Andrews suggested that there were several models available for reopening and this week’s case numbers would play a large part in determining which was adopted.
“None of those models will be 100% safe,” he said. “The question is, calibrating that right.
“Having the lowest risk possible while being able to deliver that multi-month stable Covid-normal where we can pounce on individual cases and outbreaks and not have to go to suburb-wide, citywide, statewide rules. That is the basic logic to this.”
Andrews also said there would be significant changes to the stages one, two, three and four restrictions to which Victorians have grown accustomed. The roadmap is likely to lay out a new “stage” system where restrictions will be more targeted to the areas known to cause high transmissions, such as household gatherings and high-risk workplaces.
Could stage four be extended?
Yes, it could be extended beyond 13 September.
Andrews was asked this during Monday’s press conference and confirmed it was being considered.
“We can’t rule out settings in two weeks’ time,” he said. “It is very difficult to know what those settings will be. They have to be guided by the data, the science and the very best medical advice.”
The federal deputy chief medical officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth, told the Today show on Monday that it would be “unlikely” stage four would be lifted in two weeks.
“It’s hard to see that happening … I think that we’re going to have to see the numbers down where they’re controllable, and that is the numbers that you are seeing in NSW and Queensland at the moment,” he said.
“But then again the rate of the numbers dropping is getting faster in Victoria. So, you never know. And we just have to look on a daily basis.”
Coatsworth is not directly responsible for Victorian public health decisions.
Even if stage four were lifted, Andrews has previously stated that the “stay-at-home” order was likely to remain in place, as this order is a staple of the statewide stage-three shutdown.
“To be frank with people, the notion we would go from stage four to stage two or stage one … we’re not going to be able to do that,” he said on Friday. “It will have to be gradual and steady because we’ve all got to be really careful to make sure nothing we do makes it more likely that we find ourselves back here at exactly this place.”
What is the roadmap’s time frame?
Andrews said the roadmap would be a long-term plan and reopening would take place over months not weeks. The government is aiming to move slowly enough that they will not have to reinstate restrictions once they are lifted.
What rules do we know so far?
While Andrews declined to go into detail about the roadmap on Monday he did suggest several Covid-safe measures would be required in the workplace:
Everyone who can work remotely must continue to work from home and carpooling may be banned.
There will be density rules dictating the maximum number of people allowed in commercial or retail enclosed areas.
Face masks and personal protective equipment will become mandatory in many workplaces, especially those that are considered high risk, such as meatworks.
Other hygiene requirements will be imposed across workplaces, including surface sanitisation and regular handwashing.
There will be stricter rules around ensuring sick workers stay home if unwell and while awaiting the results of a Covid-19 test.
What does it mean for individual Victorians?
Andrews gave significantly less information when it came to restrictions on Victorians in their personal lives. But he did say that the relaxation of rules surrounding at-home gatherings would come much later in the roadmap.
“In terms of large gatherings in your home … there’s simply no escaping the reality that large groups of people congregating in their home – families visiting each other, friends visiting each other – the informality of that as opposed to a restaurant or cafe, for instance, was a massive contributor to the number of cases that we have seen in this second wave,” he said.
“As unpleasant as it is to have to forecast, it might be a while before you can have a barbecue with a large number of friends, or even family … you can’t deny the fact, because the evidence is really clear.
“People perhaps let their guard down because they’re in their own home, there’s not a waiter there making sure you keep your distance, making sure you’re only there for a specified time, making sure everything is cleaned to that kind of industrial standard, you can’t deny that. That has been a big factor in this and we will have to be aware of that when crafting the way out of this.”
But Andrews did say he would try to “make sure we have a Christmas Day as close to normal as possible”.
Victoria’s chief health office, Brett Sutton, has previously said face masks would be required in some form for a considerable length of time – until the state had reduced community transmission to basically zero.
Will any rules change before the roadmap is announced?
It’s possible there will be an announcement coming sooner allowing single people living alone to elect another household to visit.
Those in relationships in Melbourne are now allowed to travel more than 5km to visit the home of the person they are in an “intimate personal relationship” with. This is the only reason someone has for visiting another home outside of “caretaking”.
But Sutton suggested last week that the department was considering allowing single people living alone to also elect a household or households to visit.
On Monday Andrews said this change to the rules would be made “as soon as it was safe”, which could be before Sunday.
“As soon as it’s safe for us to potentially have a different set of rules for those who live on their own we will make those announcements and we’ll try to bring those changes in as quickly as we can,” he said.
“But again, that has to be done safely too because whilst a sense of loneliness and a sense of isolation is a very real thing … the fact you live alone doesn’t mean you’re immune to spreading this to someone else, if you have visitors coming in.”
Will the roadmap give set dates for reopening?
Andrews has suggested that while the roadmap will lay out a general timeline, not every sector will be given a hard and fast date when they are allowed to reopen.
“Some [sectors] will have to be subject to the data and the case numbers a week after we begin reopening, two weeks after we begin reopening, so on and so forth,” he said on Monday. “I think that logic can tell you that’s the only way we can do it.”
When will elective surgeries restart?
The premier said the roadmap would not directly address the recommencement of elective surgeries in the state.
“It is not specifically referenced in the roadmap but it will be on Sunday, and we will provide not necessarily a definitive date when surgery in different categories will resume,” he said.
He noted that it will be up to clinicians to determine the urgency for a patient to undergo a surgical procedure.
“If a patient’s condition was to deteriorate, and they were to move from … category two to a more urgent category one case, then of course their surgery happens,” Andrews said.
