From Saturday, the 15th of August, all of the Greater Sydney area will be able to leave their home for an essential reason only within a 5km radius around their home. The 5km rule had previously only referred to people who live in the 12 affected LGAs but NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed the news along with a number of new restrictions you can read about here.
Anyway, everyone in the Greater Sydney region living in lockdown now has a 5km radius for exercise, which for most people was the only reason they were travelling anywhere in the first place.
Thankfully you don’t have to get a map and compass out to draw your own circle, or endlessly check out Google Maps to see how far away things are. There’s a website that can figure it all out for you, so you can see exactly what’s within 5km of your house.
As someone who’s lived in Melbourne through the pandemic, I can tell you that the website KMFromHome has been super helpful with knowing exactly how far I can travel from my house to get some fresh air, go for a run, or grab some essentials for me and my housemates.
It’s also really helpful in figuring out what my friends’ radiuses looked like, so I could plan to exercise with a mate in the pocket where our circles overlapped.
As always, the Sydney restrictions apply within your personal 5km radius – no gathering with more than two people, keep your distance, and carry a mask. For exercising in your radius, you’re only allowed to go with the people you live with, or two people from other households.
And just because you’ve now got a circle of map to get familiar with doesn’t mean you should spend all your time wandering around every street in your 5km radius. If you really don’t need to go out, just stay home.
Oh and carpooling with people outside your household is a big no-no now as well, so if you’re driving to meet a friend in your radius overlap, you have to get there in separate cars.
