THIS week, we dodged a bullet.
As Melbourne was ordered back into stage 3 lockdown, the Victorian Premier announced that the regions, including ours, would continue as normal, or at least “COVID-normal”.
COVID-normal is as good as it gets for the time being.
The painful reality is that until a vaccine is found, there will be no old “normal”.
Public gatherings are still restricted. The number of visitors you can have at home is still capped.
All the advice about physical distancing, handwashing, coughing and sneezing into elbows and not touching your face must be followed meticulously, in every household and every business in every corner of our electorate.
It is onerous and frustrating. But spare a thought for Melbourne.
At least we can still move about relatively freely. At least we can cross the NSW border for any reason we like, provided we have a permit and don’t venture too far. And, most importantly, at least we aren’t facing the prospect of an imminent and catastrophic spike in hospitalisations.
So we are very lucky. But that luck could disappear in a heartbeat with just one misstep.
The fact we were spared the Melbourne shutdown is a significant win, but it is no time for complacency. It’s the opposite of that.
It’s a time for sober reflection on the power and speed of this virus and how quickly things can go from bad, to worse, to completely out of control.
The US is an advanced, industrialised country and this week clocked almost three million cases and more than 131,000 deaths. This could happen anywhere.
We need to reward the faith of the Victorian Government. We need to demonstrate that we do not take our current status for granted and maintain our vigilance like never before.
Remember when we had to line up at the supermarket door like we were at a nightclub?
There were staffers monitoring the doors, offering (well stocked) hand sanitiser to every customer, monitoring physical distancing, asking people to use trollies rather than baskets in order to maximise space between shoppers.
That’s what we need to return to.
We need more vigilance, not less. We are being given special treatment by the government, and rightly so, because our COVID-19 case numbers have been so consistently low and stable over a relatively long period.
But this could easily slip through our fingers if we don’t do our bit.
Ali Cupper is the Member for Mildura
