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FFC: Established 1883
Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018. -
FFC: Established 1883
Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.Comment
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Re: Coronavirus Info & Helpful Direction
Really good to have the footy on the weekends still to watch on TV. I certainly have missed going out on weekends and going to watch the Dogs. 2021 hopefully now. Great that cases have decreased in Victoria but has come at a cost with all the deaths my thoughts are with all those families who have lost someone. . Looking forward to getting my haircut once the lockdown is over. There will be heaps of demand."Footscray people are incredible people; so humble. I'm just so happy - ecstatic"Comment
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Re: Coronavirus Info & Helpful Direction
Statement From The Premier
06 September 2020
Today is Father’s Day.
And just like Mother’s Day earlier this year, I know there’ll be plenty of families missing each other.
Whether it’s dad or grandpa, baba, papa or cha – today is a day that is supposed to be spent together.
Normally, for us, it’d be lunch with Cath and the kids. And maybe a trip back home to see mum – and visit dad. This year, though, it’s got to be different.
I know that same sense of loss and missing those you love is being felt by every single Victorian family.
But each of those sacrifices – each of those big, real and meaningful sacrifices – is making a difference. And slowly, together, we are driving this virus down.
When Melbourne was in Stage 3 restrictions, it was taking an average of 49 days to cut our number of cases in half. In Stage 4, we’re doing it in just 18.
At the same time, the expert modelling tells us that even with that enormous effort – we’re likely to be averaging around 60 cases a day by next weekend. For reference, last time we eased restrictions, we were averaging around 10 a day.
If we go too far too soon, the modelling also tells us we’d be on track for a third wave by mid-November.
That’d mean we’re back to where we are now, maybe even worse. Days, weeks, months of sacrifice – gone. Confidence for business – destroyed. More families suffering. More lives lost.
It’s why, even as we release a roadmap for reopening, it’s got to be done in safe, steady and sustainable steps.
Currently, Melbourne is in Stage 4 restrictions. From 11:59pm on 13 September, we’ll take our First Step towards COVID Normal. Regional Victoria, currently in Stage 3 restrictions, will be able to jump to the Second Step of reopening.
By moving from stages to steps, we’re giving Victorians a long-term plan for our path out of restrictions and into COVID Normal.
Importantly, we want the whole of the state to be at COVID Normal by the end of the year – making sure family barbeques, summer holidays and a trip to the beach can all still happen.
These steps will be guided by dates – and the data. That means if we’re on-track to take a step forward, we can do so confidently.
With clear and articulated case targets, we’re creating “trigger points” for review for our public health team – and giving Victorians even more insight into how we’re tracking.
The First Step will mean modest changes. Small improvements we can make, to make life a little bit easier, without giving away any of Victorians’ hard-won gains.
That includes the creation of a “bubble” for people living alone and single parents. This would allow more isolated Victorians to nominate one other person to help them through this – a friend or family member that can visit them in their home.
I understand that isolation is a real issue for many. But I’d ask people only add someone to their bubble if they need to. After all, the more people you see, the more chance there is of coming into contact with someone who has the virus, putting us back on a path to lockdown.
Exercise will also be expanded. Under the First Step, it will also be lengthened to two hours every day. This could be a two-hour block or split into two one-hour blocks.
You can continue exercising with one other person outside your household – or those you live with.
We’ll also expand this to include “social interaction”. These are activities that don’t require the reopening of a workplace or recreational facility – things like sharing a picnic in your local park or reading a book at your local beach. And for parents just as much as kids, the reopening of playgrounds.
Finally, recognising we’re slowly getting to warmer weather, curfew will also move back an hour to 9pm.
As I said, these are the small sustainable forward steps we can take to make life just a little bit easier. Ahead of 28 September, and if we’re on track with our case numbers, our public health team will review our progress and ensure we can confidently move metropolitan Melbourne to the Second Step.
Under the Second Step in metropolitan Melbourne, we’ll get more people back to work – some 100,000 workers across construction, manufacturing, and landscape garden and maintenance workers who operate alone.
Childcare will also open without permits – making life a little less stressful for parents working from home.
I know for a lot of businesses, they’ll want to know what comes next for them too, and certainty to plan for the future. And while the current arrangements will remain in place until at least 28 September, we’ll continue meeting with you – and listening to you – to make sure you have that certainty going forward.
For regional Victoria, the Second Step will mean some changes too.
From 11:59pm on 13 September, people living alone and single parents will also be able to have a bubble.
Up to five people will be able to gather together in outdoor public places – the park, the beach – up to a maximum of two households. By limiting it to two households, we’re again limiting the virus’s ability to spread.
Outdoor pools and playgrounds in regional Victoria will also open. And religious services can be conducted outside with a maximum of five people, plus a faith leader.
For schools and students, we’ll begin a staged return to onsite learning from Term Four.
All VCE and VCAL students – in Melbourne and regional Victoria – will attend onsite for the General Achievement Test and other essential assessments from 5 October.
In regional Victoria, all students will return to onsite learning between 12 and 16 October and in Melbourne, VCE and VCAL students and Prep to Grade 2 will also return for onsite learning from the 12 of October.
There’s a lot to take in – many of those questions will be answered on the website www.vic.gov.au/roadmap – and if they're not, we will work to answer them over coming days.
I understand there’ll be some people who’ll be disappointed, those who wanted more and sooner. But these are the steady and sustainable steps that our health experts tell us will see us out of this – safely.
This roadmap is about making sure we stay one step ahead of the virus – and making sure we don’t have to take another backwards step.
I say it often: we all want this to be over. And we all really do. But for this to be over, we each have to find it in ourselves to keep going just a little bit longer.
We’ve all come too far, given too much, to see it wasted.
By not seeing our dads today, we’re that much closer to seeing them at Christmas.
By spending another night on the couch at home, we’re that much closer to being able to catch up with mates at the park.
And by staying the course, we will get through this – and we’ll get through it together."Footscray people are incredible people; so humble. I'm just so happy - ecstatic"Comment
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Re: Coronavirus Info & Helpful Direction
Regional Victoria's coronavirus restrictions changed at midnight. Here's what's allowed under step 3 of the roadmap
By Nicole Mills
Regional Victoria is now in step three of its coronavirus roadmap to recovery.
The changes came into effect at 11:59pm last night.
It means the gap between what is allowed in Melbourne and regional Victoria is widening, and police are being asked to strengthen the border between the two zones with additional vehicle checkpoints and a tough new $4,957 fine to stop people from Melbourne seeking additional freedoms in the country.
So what actually changes today?
We've compiled a comprehensive list of what's allowed in regional Victoria under step 3, but here's what people are most looking forward to:
Travel is back on the agenda, just in time for school holidays
While there might not be any trips to Bali to celebrate the end of term 3 — or even Byron Bay for that matter, as interstate borders remain shut to most Victorians — those in regional Victoria can now have a getaway.
Travel within regional Victoria is allowed and Victoria Police has confirmed you can pass through Melbourne to get where you need to go.
"The restrictions do permit that," Deputy Commissioner of Regional Operations Rick Nugent said.
"You might have someone, for example, going from Bairnsdale to Geelong, then they're permitted to do that."
But the health department says while you can travel through Melbourne on your way to visiting friends or holidaying in regional Victoria, "you should not stop in Melbourne except to buy necessary goods and services, for care and compassionate reasons or permitted work".
And while you're driving through Melbourne you're under Melbourne's rules, so plan your trip so that you're not travelling during curfew.
With no more stay-at-home requirements, that also means day trips to the beach or a long hike are permitted.
Hotels, caravan parks and campgrounds will reopen
All accommodation, including caravan parks and campgrounds with shared facilities, can reopen in regional Victoria.
But you can only go away with:
- Members of your household
- An intimate partner
- Members of your household and a maximum of five members of the household you've picked to be in your household bubble
Separate groups cannot share bedrooms, meaning you can't book a bed in a large dorm room if it means sharing with strangers. But there are no restrictions on sharing kitchens, toilets and shower facilities, as long as they're being cleaned regularly and COVID-safe plans are in place.
You can go round to Mum's for dinner, IF she's in your household bubble
There may well be some awkward conversations going on across regional Victoria as the battle for who gets the first slice of Mum's home-cooked lasagne heats up.
The only way you can visit someone inside their home (unless you are intimate partners) is if you've nominated each other to be in your "household bubble".
How do household bubbles work?
- Household bubbles are allowed in regional Victoria from 11:59pm on September 16. In metropolitan Melbourne only those who live alone and single parents get a bubble for now
- You can only nominate one other household to be in your bubble, and they must choose you in return
It's one bubble per household, each member of the household can't have their own bubble
- A household in regional Victoria cannot choose a household in Melbourne to be in their bubble
- You do not need to wear masks when visiting your bubble inside one of your homes. (This is different to Melbourne's single bubble, where masks must be worn, even indoors.)
This bureaucratic intervention could prove to be the ultimate decider in many long-running Favourite Sibling Wars.
But there are ways around it if your family chooses a more diplomatic route.
Groups of up to 10 people are allowed to meet outdoors (lasagne picnic anyone?) or you can book a table in a restaurant.
That's right, cafes and restaurants are reopening
No more takeaway-only for regional Victoria.
Cafes and restaurants can offer table service again.
But you'll want to book ahead because seating is limited and some businesses may decide it's not worth their while reopening.
Up to 10 patrons can be seated indoors and up to 50 people can be seated outdoors, as long as the spaces are large enough to comply with density rules and tables can be 1.5 metres apart.
There will also be a two-hour time limit on all bookings, so no relaxing long lunches or drinking late into the night.
Outdoor junior (and some adult) sport is back
Kids and teenagers under 18 will be allowed to participate in outdoor sports, both contact and non-contact varieties.
For adults the rules are a bit stricter: only non-contact outdoor sport where you can maintain a distance of 1.5 metres is allowed.
But the 10-person limit on outdoor gatherings will not apply to participants, as both junior and senior sport is capped at the minimum number of people required to play a match.
For example, a cricket match can involve two teams of 11 players plus coaches and umpires.
Bootcamps will be allowed with up to 10 people and skateparks and trampolining centres can reopen — provided they're outdoors.
More people can attend weddings and funerals
Weddings in regional Victoria can now have up to 10 people (including the couple and witnesses) plus a celebrant.
Funerals are capped at 20 mourners plus those required to conduct the funeral.
More businesses can reopen
Beauty services and tattoo parlours will be allowed to reopen for all services where a face mask can be worn.
What isn't changing?
Masks remain mandatory.
What next for regional Victoria?
There are only two more steps in the roadmap for regional Victoria.
But they both rely on Victoria hitting statewide targets, which means regional areas will likely sit on this third step for at least two months.
The "last step" may come into effect on November 23, if there have been no new cases statewide in the two weeks prior.
That will allow for increased numbers at gatherings and hospitality venues.
After that, subject to health advice, it's time for "COVID-normal", with no restrictions on gatherings or visitors to the home. But some safety requirements, such as venues taking contact details, will remain in place."Footscray people are incredible people; so humble. I'm just so happy - ecstatic"Comment
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Re: Coronavirus Info & Helpful Direction
Little River - City of Wyndham part (Stage 4)
Little River - City of Greater Geelong part (Stage 2)"Footscray people are incredible people; so humble. I'm just so happy - ecstatic"Comment
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Re: Coronavirus Info & Helpful Direction
How to test yourself for Coronavirus:
Step 1: Pour a glass of wine and try to smell it.
Step2: If you can smell the wine, then drink some and see if you can taste it.
Step 3: If you can smell and taste it, you can confirm you don't have Coronavirus.
Last night I did the test 9 times, all were negative; thank God.
Tonight I am taking the test again, because I woke up this morning with a headache and feel like I am coming down with something.FFC: Established 1883
Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.Comment
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Re: Coronavirus Info & Helpful Direction
Glad to be allowed out again here in country Vic. Have booked 3 different places tomorrow evening because of the stupid 2 hour limit.Comment
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