Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews announced Sunday that Melbourne’s hotly contested coronavirus lockdown orders would be eased and its curfew lifted after a significant drop in new cases.
Andrews was roundly criticized for putting Melbourne and other parts of the country under a Level 4 lockdown at the beginning of August while trying to get a grip on the virus. The Associated Press reported the lockdown included the closure of schools and non-essential businesses and enforced a curfew.
Dozens of residents took to the streets at the time to voice their displeasure over the orders and there were arrests. The BBC reported the protests were tense and some demonstrators threatened police with violence. The BBC report called Victoria the “epicenter” of the country’s COVID outbreak at the time and, at one point, made up 90 percent of the country’s deaths.
Andrews shut down non-essential businesses in Victoria for six weeks, which critics say contributed to the country’s GDP sinking by 7 percent in the first quarter and its first recession in nearly 30 years, according to U.S. news website Axios.
Andrews credited his orders and the citizens’ willingness to follow them. He said the region was seeing 400 cases each day at its height, but Melbourne’s new average is 22.1.
“It’s a remarkable thing and an achievement that belongs to every single Victorian,” he said in a statement. “Because with grit and with guts and with heart – we are beating this thing.”
He said 127,000 residents in Melbourne will be able to go back to work. Andrews asked citizens keep their shopping to a minimum and focus on the essentials, and he said they mustn’t “take their foot off the pedal” and that “masks are still mandatory.”
Weddings are still limited to five people, including the couple and two witnesses. They also need to take place outdoors.
“We took a substantial step on Sunday, and we are well placed to take an even more substantial step towards that COVID normal on or about 18 or 19 October,” Mr. Andrews said.
TRENDPOST: As we have reported, cases do not equal deaths, and, as the CDC numbers reflect, well over 99.7 percent of those who catch the virus recover. Moreover, Australia’s Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety reported that 68 percent of all COVID-19 deaths were people in residential aged care.
Again, who is dying from the virus? There were seven more deaths confirmed on Tuesday. One was a man was in his 60s, another in his 70s, two men and a woman in their 80s, and a man and a woman in their 90s.
Yet, despite these facts, draconian lockdown rules are imposed on healthy people less likely to suffer from the virus rather than taking measures to assure those most vulnerable to the disease are protected.
TREND FORECAST: The COVID War is going to be fought between the young who want to experience life and the older generations who are afraid of dying, are in power, and are telling them what to do.
As we have forecast, there is going to be a big pushback against the establishment by younger generations, and it will be expressed predominantly in the arts.
TRENDPOST: In all of Australia, since March, when politicians launched the COVID War and imposed lockdowns, the grand total of 851 people died of the virus in a country of 25.565 million… or 0.00332 percent of the population. And as with other essential facts, this is totally ignored by the media and the ruling political parties.
