One thing the Victorian government continues to do that doesn't make sense, is not to treat a household as a single entity. In the last change to restrictions starting at 11:59pm on the 27th of October two people and their dependents could visit another house.
Visitors to the home: Up to two people from
the same household can visit a
household. Once a day you can visit someone
or have visitors. Infants under 12 months are
not included in this cap, and other
dependants can also attend if they cannot be
left unattended or cared for in another
setting. The two people must be from the
same household and 25km rule applies.
What doesn't make sense is if someone in a household is infected with coronavirus then it's possible, probably likely, another person in the household could be infected. If a two people from a household visit another person who is infected and returns to their household they're likely to infect those who didn't visit another person's house. Treating a household as a single entity makes sense, whereas treating the household as separate individuals in terms of activities doesn't.
By enabling the entire household to visit as a single entity the entire entity is exposed, or exposes at the same level. It's also unlikely the people will know, or even have a clue as to what represents "if they cannot be left unattended". When is it that we can leave a child home unattended? I certainly don't know the answer to that and I'm sure most people don't.
Now we have the new rules starting from 11:59pm on the 8th of November and things are just going to get totally confusing for people visiting another household.
Now instead of the two people that could visit another household, we can have two people from two different households visit another house. So of the original two people who could visit previously only one can now visit. Talk about a big step backwards and it really isn't going to make sense to anyone.
You can still only have a maximum of two people to visit per day. Going forward though, those two people don’t need to be from the same household, and they’ll be able to come at different times.
https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/statement-premier-81
This is not progression, it's a backward step.
If you think about this logically with the original two people and their dependents, if one of those people now has to stay home, it means only one person and no dependents should visit and that could be true of the second person who visits. Assuming both visitors have partners then no dependents should need to visit because their partners can look after the dependents. Is this what the government really intended?
Why isn't it that the original two people (and their dependents) could visit and then an additional two people and their dependents visit. This is supported to be about gradually opening up, not having backwards steps.
Perhaps what this shows is the government hasn't thought out the steps as well as they should have.
To go from no visitors to two visitors from the one household then back to one visitor from the household is not a logical progression.
Only those who try to understand the rules and follow the rules will do what the government is asking. The rest of Victorians will see this as silliness and do what they feel is appropriate.
It's also a concern as to how this is going to be monitored and enforced. The only way people would know you had two lots of visitors where partners attended as well as dependents, is if neighbours are really keeping tabs on each other in minute detail and that's being encouraged by the government. That's the type of society you read about in futuristic books, or how The Colony on Netflix has neighbours watching others. I know that's not the society I want for myself, my family and my children.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.Mapz.com.au/coronavirusvictoria/
PS. The following is the Roadmap summary for Metropolitan Melbourne
https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-10/Victorias-roadmap-for-reopening-How-we-live-in-metropolitan-Melbourne-FINAL.pdf
There have been changes such as the number of visitors from separate households from 11:59pm, on 8 November 2020 as detailed in the Premier's statement.
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