Bubble shrinkage?

A WARNING that border bubble restrictions of movement could further intensify if seeding of coronavirus heads further south has been given by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews… Victoria Police are continuing to carry out Sentinel roving patrols checking motorists for permits when crossing the border, and the metro–rural divide which Chief Commissioner Shane Patton confirmed they are enforcing… But when questioned whether a harder border lockdown is justified Mr Andrews told a media scrum yesterday there are options that could be implemented, but he didn‘t go as far as saying a full lockdown of the border was on the cards… "We had a scare in Wentworth the other day that meant we looked at all sorts of things, there‘s this Broken Hill case – if we started to see seeding further south right into NSW then there‘s every chance that we‘d look to go even further," Mr Andrews said… "Those border communities, as much as it‘s difficult to live under these conditions, the last thing you want is this virus getting into those regional communities, and more incursions from Sydney and NSW because that will make our challenge of driving down cases even harder… "There are always options and those are authorised to enter, that list can change – those who have got permits, the reasons which you can move within the border bubble can change, the local government areas that make up the border bubble can change…" Mr Andrews made reference to four local areas on the NSW side that were removed from the border bubble a couple of weeks ago… There are currently strict rules for cross–border travel with all people living in the border bubble requiring a permit to travel interstate… He explained that "the border is shut" except for compassionate reasons and a small number of essential workers such as health staff working at the Wangaratta and Albury hospitals… As a former Wangaratta resident and with his mum still living in the district, Mr Andrews said he understands the dynamics of the cross–border communities living along the Victorian–NSW border… "I appreciate having grown up not far from that border, my mum is only 45 minutes from that border and it‘s very challenging for communities to not have all freedoms of movement that is a normal part of their life," he said… "The border doesn‘t exist for some of those communities – they shop and work and get health care, get educated, social, sports and all of those community things – we know there are impacts there…" Mr Andrews could also not be drawn to give comment on the predicament of the NSW Government and refused to make any "gratuitous" remarks that he said occurred when Victoria was in a similar situation with the spread of the virus in 2020… There were 57 cases in Victoria yesterday bringing the total to 296 active cases, 16 of those in hospital, 3 in ICU, 1 on a ventilator… Some 49,607 were tested on Wednesday and 27,581 were vaccinated, bringing the total Victorian vaccinations to 2,050,042…

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