School holidays in Victoria were brought forward by three days to Tuesday, March 24, by Premier Daniel Andrews.

He said in a press conference that parents should plan for term two to start on April 14, but warned the situation could change.

"We want our children to get an education for as long as we possibly can during the COVID-19 outbreak, and that's in line with medical advice," he said.

Teachers were already anticipating pupil-free days to formulate a strategy and will now use the extra days this week to plan for remote, flexible and distance learning.

Wodonga mum Bec Cohen was among those at school drop-off at Catholic College Wodonga and said she hadn't heard much yet about the move.

"Just that today is the last day, and it's the same for my other two kids at St Monica's as well," she said.

"They've said they're planning for them to go back.

"We would have to [adjust to remote teaching], I don't know what would happen.

"The school sent out questions about whether we have internet and that sort of thing."

Ms Cohen said she didn't have specific questions for the college but felt the bigger picture was less clear.

"With the school, not so much, but just with everything else it's a bit crazy," she said.

"Yesterday when they were talking about non-essential services, I was thinking that was everything.

"But now today they're talking about gyms, pubs and clubs."

Her 12-year-old, Chase, was happy about getting a few extra days of holidays.

"It's good, four days off school," he said.

"But we have to stay inside."

Melrose Primary School parent Tarra Gale was concerned the school holidays being brought forward would lead to longer-term closures.

"I don't believe in the shut-down, it could be a month," she said.

"All that does is hamper the kids' learning.

"They need to go to school and build immunity."

Ms Gale was concerned about how businesses and self-employed workers like herself would survive.

"I own my own business, and the government is telling us we can access our Super, but what sole trader pays themselves super all the time?" she said.

"It's all good to hand out all these supplements, but they're not available to March 31, and people are closing their doors now.

"It's tough enough as it is on us, with both parents working, it's not easy.

"If they're not careful, we will end up in major recession."

Fellow Melrose parent, Paddy Cautela, believed the NSW government would follow Victoria's move on schools soon.

"For everyone's safety it's the right thing to do, but schools shutting down is a sad thing for everyone," he said.

"The kids want to come to school and don't want to miss out on seeing friends."

Mr Cautela manages Yackandandah's Star Hotel and said closures of pubs and restaurants except for takeaway would impact the business.

"As of 12 o'clock today, in Victoria, we're not allowed to have any gatherings inside the pub," he said.

"Our contingency plan at the moment is takeaway and deliveries.

"We're going to lose a lot of business, but hopefully we'll pick some up that way.

"We've got a lot of support in Yackandandah."

The closures, announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and state premiers, comes after the town's biggest event of the year was called off.

"We were supposed to have the Yack folk festival last weekend and that would have brought in revenue of over $100,000 for us and we didn't even make $10,000," Mr Cautela said.

"I won't lie, before they shut it down, I was worried, thinking about the amount of people who come through Yackandandah during that weekend.

"It's for the safety of everyone; many of the people who come to the folk festival are from out of town, even flying from Brisbane.

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"But from a financial point of view, it's devastating.

"It's hard, we don't have a crystal ball, these are crazy times."

Mr Andrews reassured "we want our children to get an education for as long as we possibly can", in line with medical advice and urged Victorian families to follow advice.

"These are not ordinary school holidays, every Australian has been advised not to undertake non-essential travel and I'm advising every family that school holidays where kids might be going and staying at friends' places, going out to shopping malls, and doing all the usual things - that is not appropriate," he said.

"If we don't start taking these things seriously, we will be talking about quite amazing tragedy."

Childcare and Kinder is not on the list of enforced closures coming into affect at midday, and Mr Andrews hasn't closed tertiary education.

"I'm very confident ... uni and TAFE settings are doing the right thing around distancing," he said.

"But this is stage one, and there will be further announcements."

Mr Andrews said businesses not on the aforementioned list could stay open, but that anyone who was uncertain about whether their business needs to change will be able to access information at coronavirus.vic.gov.au.

"Never before have we seen a situation where venues, such a large part of our economy, has essentially been shut down," Mr Andrews said.

"These bans, this shut-down includes pubs, clubs ... gyms, indoor sporting venues, places of workshop, cinemas, entertainment venues ... it's a comprehensive list.

"These restrictions will come into force from midday today and will remain in force until midnight April 13 ... I think it's highly likely they will be further extended beyond that."

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