ECHUCA’S leaders are bracing for the impact of another COVID-19 lockdown which will see some businesses close their doors for seven days and a ban on travel.
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Committee for Echuca-Moama chief executive Deanne Armstrong said the lockdown was “devastating” for local businesses and tourism.
“It’s definitely not what we’re wanting to hear, but I don’t think there’s much choice with the amount of exposure sites,” she said.
“For us it’s the right decision to have the snap lockdown because we need to make sure everybody is safe.
“We encourage everyone to keep in contact with their loved ones and making sure they are all okay, and if you’re over 40 please go and get vaccinated to help stop the spread of the virus.”
Acting Premier James Merlino said yesterday Victoria’s contact tracers were working the fastest they had since the pandemic began, but Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said it was a “failure”.
He said regional Victoria’s economy was being “thrown under a bus” as a result of incompetence in the handling of COVID-19 by the state government.
“NSW, which really does have gold standard contact tracing, has shown again and again you don’t have to destroy businesses and cripple the economy to battle this,” he said.
“You just need a plan and a contact tracing system that works; not one where businesses identified as hot spots only hear about it in the media, not from the government.”
Following the announcement of Victoria’s fourth COVID-19 lockdown, Mr Walsh said all Victorians, particularly small business and tourism, were paying the price.
During the press conference to announce the lockdown, Mr Merlino said contact tracers were identifying and locking down three rings of contacts within 24 hours.
“Since first thing this morning, we’ve identified in excess of 10,000 primary and secondary contacts who will need to either quarantine or test and isolate, and that number will continue to grow,” he said.
He said the primary concern of public health experts was how fast the Indian COVID-19 variant was moving.
“In 24 hours, the number of cases has doubled, so unless something drastic happens, this will become increasingly uncontrollable,” he said.
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