Premier Dan Andrews’ comments in today’s press conference have many believing that tomorrow’s roadmap out of lockdown might not be as fast paced as they were hoping.
In a press conference on Saturday, Andrews announced another 76 new cases and 11 deaths, clarifying that the measures will stay in place for as long as it is needed to truly wipe out the second wave.
“To open up with those numbers would, of course, see the total number of coronavirus infections explode. It would see many, many hundreds, indeed thousands, of Victorians infected with this virus,” he explained.
Throughout the press conference, Andrews acknowledged that the lockdown is far from enjoyable for most of us, but remains committed to “staying the course” to ensure we don’t end up in a much worse third wave.
The comments come as hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters flocked to the streets on Saturday, demanding their “freedom,” resulting in several arrests.
Andrews will tomorrow outline a detailed roadmap on how the government plans to “ease out of the second wave, once it’s appropriately and properly defeated.”
There has been much speculation around what the roadmap will entail, especially after the Herald Sun shared a leaked draft of the document earlier this week. However, it’s important to note that everything that is speculated prior to Andrews’ press conference on Sunday is just that, pure speculation.
With that being said, please don’t freak yourself out reading your Aunt Linda’s wild conspiracy theory on Facebook about how Dan Andrews is secretly a lizard person and that the lockdown is a ploy to microchip our dogs, or whatever nonsense is being shared.
Today’s comments come just a week after Andrews reiterated the importance of properly quashing the second wave before bushfire season begins.
“We could have fires well before Christmas – that’s what we had last year – that’s why you’ve got to pull this up now,” he told reporters on Sunday.
“You’ve got to end this second wave properly, not leaving it there smouldering, you’ve got to put it out.
By the end of day tomorrow, we’ll at least have a solid idea of what the roadmap looks like. But whether it takes a week, or six weeks to see restrictions begin to ease, we’ve just gotta prioritise fixing the very real (see: not a hoax) public health crisis we’re battling right now.
And before you know it, we’ll all be getting on the beers at the pub again.
