Epidemiologists have said some of the remaining COVID-19 restrictions including dance floor bans would no longer be required in the coming weeks and wow, I’m trying not to get my hopes up about getting back in the club.
Experts in Victoria have agreed the State Government ought to wait two weeks to reassess its restrictions but were optimistic some restrictions, including dancing and singing bans and density limits, could start to lift soon.
Head of Monash University’s epidemiological modelling unit James Trauer said two weeks would allow health authorities to monitor whether hospitalisations would change after the commencement of the school year and the return of some workers.
“[We need to] have a plan to do things like getting dance floors and more people working on site, maybe in two to three weeks, provided the case numbers are not increasing as a consequence of progressively releasing restrictions,” Trauer told The Age.
Be still my beating heart. You shall feel the bass again soon.
Chair of epidemiology at Deakin University Professor Catherine Bennett agreed. She said a couple of weeks would be crucial to decision-making.
“I think we’ve just got a couple of weeks to see the bumpiness of work and school returning to make sure it’s not triggering anything that we can’t control,” Bennett said.
“We just need to make sure [cases are] down to a level where the pressure is off the hospitals,” she said.
But this doesn’t mean anything’s going to change just yet.
In Victoria hospitality venues are subject to density limits of one person per two square metres indoors, and all indoor dance floors are banned except for weddings.
In NSW indoor density limits and the bans on singing and dancing indoors, except at weddings or places of worship, were extended to the end of this month.
Masks are also required indoors in both states.
Last week NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet encouraged everyone eligible to go get a vaccination booster, explaining in a press conference: “We want to maintain [a] cautious approach as we continue to get our booster program moving.”
In Vic no timeline has been announced, but Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed consultations were cautiously underway to ease one restriction: the temporary limitations around elective surgeries that was installed on Jan 6.
But he said “no one is rushing.”
“We think it is possible to resume some services in a staggered way, in a balanced and cautious way, and we’ll make further announcements about that soon.”
Federal Government health authorities have also predicted another wave of Omicron was likely to hit Australia in winter, so even if we were allowed back on to dance floors soon, it could be short-lived.
Dancing is still allowed outdoors at least so wear a mask and please get out and shake your ass in a safe way.
