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Off the back of the worst daily case numbers since the pandemic began in March, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has responded by declaring everyone in the state must wear a mask when they leave their home from Monday morning.
The 723 cases recorded yesterday is a scary number and further underlines the massive challenges in bringing COVID-19 under control.
Local government areas of Colac-Otway, Greater Geelong, Surf Coast, Moorabool, Golden Plains, and the Borough of Queenscliffe, have had tighter restrictions imposed on them with Colac the town where the virus is at its worst.
But why continue to punish areas like North-East Victoria where there has been limited virus cases and no rampant community transmission due to the region's residents actually doing the right things from the outset of this crisis?
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The border economy has already been put in a coma by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who clearly has no faith in her Victorian counterpart keeping the virus within his state boundaries.
We've become the meat in a very unpalatable sandwich with an increasing likelihood Ms Berejiklian will continue to ignore the pleas of her man on the ground, member for Albury Justin Clancy, to see commonsense on some of the business-killing measures associated with the border closures.
Until such time a coronavirus outbreak reaches the levels unfortunately seen in Colac, the only impact border closures 2.0 is having is the untold damage being inflicted on a vibrant regional economy which will take years to recover from.
The only way COVID-19 is going to get into the regional areas is if Melbourne residents continue to be allowed to freely leave the city limits where the virus is running out of control.
Rather than imposing face-saving mask wearing requirements on regions like ours, Mr Andrews needs to be more accepting of Australian Defence Force personnel assistance to tighten the ring of steel escape routes out of Melbourne.
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