City stuck in the middle

Outbreaks hem Geelong in on two sides

THE state government is moving to shield Geelong from COVID-19 outbreaks in neighbouring municipalities, with the city wedged between the state’s largest regional outbreak on Colac and second largest overall outbreak in Wyndham.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) on Sunday announced it had established a “dedicated public health team” in Geelong to help control the spread of the virus, amid a series of measures it hopes will insulate the city from nearby outbreaks.

The City of Greater Geelong recorded three new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, with 31 active cases as of Sunday.

The Surf Coast Shire added no new cases over the weekend, remaining at four active cases.

Victoria reported another 459 cases to add to the state’s second wave tally on Sunday,.

There were also 10 deaths, including a man in his 40s as well as a number of aged care residents.

But Geelong and the Surf Coast will face a challenge in keeping the spread of the virus in check, with Wyndham to the north tallying 476 active cases of COVID-19 on Sunday — the second most in Victoria — and the Colac Otway Shire to the west becoming the state’s worst regional outbreak with 47 active cases.

When asked what was being done to protect Geelong from outbreaks in neighbouring municipalities, the DHHS said it was setting up a new team to focus on the city, while continuing to focus on roadblocks preventing residents of locked down suburbs from entering the region.

“A dedicated public health team has been established in Geelong to step up the fight against coronavirus and provide case management and contact tracing for Geelong cases,” a DHHS spokesperson said.

“Under public health directions issued during the state of emergency, residents from the Mitchell Shire or metropolitan Melbourne cannot leave these ‘restricted areas’ except for one of four reasons – shopping for food and essential items, care and caregiving, exercise, and work and study. Victoria Police has set up traffic stops on highways leading out of these areas to ensure people are following the rules and protect regional Victorians from the spread of this deadly disease.”

The DHHS is also understood to be working with police on compliance checks of Geelong retail and hospitality businesses to ensure they are following social distancing, crowd limits and hand sanitiser requirements.

They are also checking patrons to ensure they are not from locked down suburbs.