Bars across Melbourne and Victoria will once again be allowed to open their doors, albeit with strict capacity restrictions, as the state hits 70 per cent double-dose vaccination rate.
From 11.59pm on Thursday, 21 October, Victoria will move forward with reopening yet again, aiming to put Melbourne’s mantle of ‘world’s most locked down city’ well and truly behind it.
In Metropolitan areas most outdoor settings – outdoor cafes, cinemas, and physical recreation facilities like pools – will open with up to 50 people per venue but are subject to density limits and only for those fully vaccinated.
Indoor settings like restaurants and cafes will be able to reopen with up to 20 people indoors with density limits, and only if all attendees – including workers – are fully vaccinated. This is a higher cap than planned in the initial Roadmap and the change has been made after discussions between the sector and the public health team.
In regional Victoria, indoor settings – like restaurants, cafes and gyms – will increase from 10 to 30 people per venue, if everyone is fully vaccinated.
Outdoor venues will increase from 20 to up to 100 people per venue, but only if everyone is fully vaccinated. If vaccination status is unknown, the venue can only have a total of 20 people.
The next milestone in the Roadmap will be when Victoria hits the 80 per cent double dose vaccination target, which is predicted to be the first week of November.
Luke Whearty, Owner of Byrdi told Bars and Clubs, the team are gearing up to reopen on Tuesday, 2 November.
“We are lucky in terms of our size and service style that the restrictions don’t hinder us too much but I think it would be difficult for larger venues to make it viable,” he said.
“In terms of how people can help it is by making a booking via our online booking system and obviously sticking to their reservation. As we are a small family run business cancellations really affect us so showing us the courtesy of giving plenty of notice in advance if your plans change is much appreciated.”
He added: “Our online store also remains open for shipping Australia-wide, so if you can’t join us in person you can still order a slice of Byrdi for home.”
Although the restrictions will still be tough, Premier Daniel Andrews said Victorians can begin to look forward again.
“Victorians have sacrificed so much to protect their families, friends and the whole community from coronavirus – and have saved countless lives because of it,” he said
“The milestone we’re about to hit marks a new and hopeful path for the whole state – allowing businesses to reopen and Victorians to get back to things they love.”
However, the Premier has once again warned unvaccinated Victorians that they will not be able to enjoy the same freedoms as those who have been vaccinated. In September Andrews said the state would move from lockdowns to lockouts, adding “I’m not going to lock the whole state down to protect people who won’t protect themselves.”
Today he doubled-down on those comments, saying that, unlike New South Wales, he will keep a vaccination-led economy in place until well into next year, and will not be easing restrictions for unvaccinated people when the state reaches 80 per cent, or even 90 per cent vaccination rate.
“Why would you get [the vaccinated economy] going and then essentially pull all that architecture that you’ve built, the infrastructure you’ve built, the culture that you’ve changed. Why would you change that four or five weeks later?,” he said”
“We will not be doing that here.
“I’m not going to say to someone, ‘just wait us out will you. Just wait four or five weeks and then you’ll be able to go to the pub’. No. If you make the judgment to not get vaccinated and you reckon you can wait out us, or the publican, or whoever you want to think you are waiting out, you won’t wait out the virus, because the virus will be here for a long time and your only protection against it is being vaccinated.
“This will be well and truly into 2022.
“We have got every reason to be confident, we have every reason to be optimistic an upbeat, Victorians have done an amazing job, but that job includes us making some difficult decisions and that’s to keep people who are not vaccinated out of [certain] venues.”
He added: “I can’t put a date on it, but it will not be when we reach 90 per cent, it will not be any time soon, [the vaccinated economy] is going to function for a period of time, well into 2022.”
Giving some inclination of how long unvaccinated people will not enjoy freedoms, the Premier said the Grand Prix will be taking place in April and he did not believe the crowd there will be made up of people who have not been double dosed.
The next milestone in the Roadmap will be when Victoria hits the 80 per cent double dose vaccination target, which is predicted to be the first week of November.
