Hare St’s Caledonian Hotel was a pulsing venue at noon on Saturday, but an hour later patrons were ushered out the door as every non-essential business closed its doors to the public.
The latest lockdown, which started at 1pm on Saturday in regional Victoria, is due to end at 11.59pm on Thursday, September 2.
Publican Dave Cunningham said it was a party-like mood at the pub as patrons celebrated "last drinks" before the doors of the hotel shut for the six-day lockdown.
“We got all our lunch orders in by 12 (noon) so everyone could get out on time,” he said.
“I'm blessed as a publican that I've got Latte Lane (the hotel's drive-thru coffee shop). While the pub is closed we will look to operate all day.
“I get the feeling, and I hope I am wrong, that we are going to be closed longer.”
Among the revellers at the hotel on Saturday was a group of Tongala footballers, enjoying a brief and hastily organised celebration to mark ending the interrupted Murray Football League season as minor premiers.
Tongala, Echuca and Lockington-Bamawn United all finished on top of their respective league ladders at the end of the home and away football season.
None will know what their sporting future holds until later this week, as league executives from throughout the state decide on what lies ahead in regard to finals football and netball.
The Victorian Government’s focus has now turned firmly in the direction of the 16- to 39-year-old age group as a COVID-19 cluster in Shepparton grows to 21 cases, a majority of which are secondary school students.
Premier Daniel Andrews has vowed, in a Bob Hawke-style statement, to have every grade six to year 12 student vaccinated by the end of the year.
It is in stark contrast to the message at this time last year when the priority was Victoria’s elderly, who were most affected by the initial variant of the virus.
Victoria was in the middle of a surge in cases at this time last year, the seven-day average at the start of August, 2020 an extraordinary 470 cases.
By mid-September last year cases were back into single figures, but the new Delta variant of the disease is presenting new challenges, with its reach extending to an as yet comparatively unaffected demographic — children.
New COVID-19 protocols, delivered by the state government at 1pm on Saturday when the lockdown conditions commenced, are pointed squarely at primary school children.
Recommendations include that primary school-aged children from five up wear masks in both indoor and outdoor settings.
This after last week’s announcement that from next Monday (August 30) people aged between 16 and 39 will be eligible for the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine.
Further illustrating the severity of the issue with the state’s younger population is that 45 per cent of cases currently in Victoria are under the age of 20 and a quarter of those are under 10.
In NSW about 30 per cent of infections are in people aged 19 and under, as the Delta variant of the virus continues to flourish in school settings.
Since August 18 Victoria has registered in excess of 50 new cases each day, while NSW recorded successive days of more than 800 cases on the weekend.
The rural and regional restrictions in NSW are due to lift on August 28, but with Greater Sydney now being locked down until the end of September the expectation of an extension for the entire state is widespread.
The original eight-week lockdown of Greater Sydney will now extend to 13 weeks, new restrictions including a 9pm to 5am curfew for the 12 Local Government Areas considered hot spots.
