It was always a matter of when wasn't it, Victoria? When the state's COVID response commander says the situation changes on a half-hourly basis you know another lockdown is on the cards.
And so it was. It should have come with a trigger warning for Victorians who have been there and done that all too often.
After the state's mask-wearing edict changed late on Wednesday night, another lockdown was pretty much a fait accompli. But that, too, doesn't make it any better.
Let's be honest, it hasn't been a brilliant 24 hours. Not for Victoria, not for NSW, not for one bunch of teens from Sydney, and definitely not for those removalists.
Late this afternoon, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced another statewide lockdown will begin at midnight on Thursday.
Back to the virus-infected removalists who stopped a number of times between south-western Sydney and Adelaide last week .. the impact has been terrifyingly enormous.
Victoria's COVID commander Jerone Weimar insists the "wheels of justice" will eventually catch up with them. He was over dealing with them and his focus had shifted to "picking up the pieces", he said.
Picking up and locking down, as the case may be.
On all together more personal level, there's this first-hand account from Bacchus Marsh resident, Chris McLennan, an ACM journalist.
He's not quite as diplomatic as Mr Weimar and referred to the men as "super-spreaders" after their brief deviation from the freeway left a country town in bits.
"My wife and I haven't been out in the community much this week. Weirdly, the only time we were was to attend a local health centre Monday evening to receive a vaccination jab. Now we wonder if some possibly infectious teachers were there as well," Chris said.
Oh, the knock-on effect of one fateful freeway feed. And it's resonated across regional towns in Victoria, NSW and South Australia as well as bigger centres.
In lockdown latest it's now Queensland's turn to go contact-tracing at double speed after three locally acquired cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Brisbane. It looks like the city's fourth lockdown this year is now a very real possibility.
Stay home. eh?
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Janine Graham
Onetime sports reporter, chief-of-staff, editor and national digital news editor. Email me: janine.graham@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Onetime sports reporter, chief-of-staff, editor and national digital news editor. Email me: janine.graham@austcommunitymedia.com.au
