Coronavirus in Ballarat: Stay close to home and wear masks, urge city leaders

The City of Ballarat CEO Janet Dore and Mayor Cr Ben Taylor encouraged residents to stay close to home if possible and wear masks in public as part of a strategy to keep the deadly virus out.

Their call came on a weekend when local students were preparing to return to school and new cases of COVID-19 in Victoria rose by 489, mostly in Melbourne.

A bit closer to home, there was a fresh active case recorded in Moorabool along with Woodend.

Ms Dore and Cr Taylor said people should continue supporting restaurants, cafes, shops and tourist attractions - but with "common sense" safety measures.

There were also renewed calls for a new walk-in testing facility in the city with medical professionals fearing appointment delays could allow the virus to spread if there were a positive case. There is now a three-day wait for a test at the one remaining testing facility in Lucas.

Ms Dore appeared with Cr Taylor at Ballarat's Botanical Gardens on Saturday, where they both placed masks on Prime Ministerial busts to highlight the need for care.

"We are the only large regional city that is COVID free and I very much want to see us stay that way," Ms Dore told The Courier.

There was some concern expressed on social media that the support for masks might confuse residents about the official DHHS advice, which recommends their use in lockdown areas.

Ms Dore said she wanted to test public opinion about what options could be adopted to keep the city safe.

Cr Taylor said some residents might have become a "little bit complacent".

He urged people not to travel beyond the municipality borders unless "they really have to" - a call reminiscent of measures introduced in the early stages of the pandemic.

Meanwhile Commerce Ballarat CEO Jodie Gillett said it remained crucial to encourage the community to buy locally. "We have been spared Stage 3 lockdown at this stage and we need to continue to support our local businesses," she said.

In Hepburn Shire councillor Kate Redwood said both residents and visitors needed to prioritise prevention measures - especially given the older demographic of the area.

Cr Redwood, who has worked as a senior manager in health organisations and been on the board of Melbourne Health, said she worried some visitors had become "neglectful" of social distancing.

Daylesford in particular had an extremely high level of tourism at the start of the school holidays, with local accommodation providers reportedly having up to 40 per cent higher occupancy than the previous year.

"My view is we need to be terribly careful until the measures to reduce the growth in infections take effect," Cr Redwood said.

"I think that we're on something of a knife edge. There's a huge risk and a great deal of concern [about infections] - for visitors and local residents.

"We have to remind people that social distancing is a really essential thing."

Cr Redwood also suggested that people should increasingly be asked to wear masks in public.

Last week, Premier Daniel Andrews encouraged residents of metropolitan Melbourne - which has now returned to Stage 3 lockdown measures - to wear masks.

That followed shifting advice, including a paper published in The Lancet medical journal, which suggests that masks could significantly cut the rate of community transmission.

Meanwhile, the local head of the main advocacy group for medical professionals has renewed calls for another walk-in testing centre in the city.

Associate Professor Mark Yates, the chair of the Ballarat subdivision of AMA Victoria, said waiting times in the city were too long.

"It is a major source of concern for me," he told The Courier on Sunday.

He said a new walk-in centre would help cut down the risk of transmission and expedite the contact tracing process.

"If you can get tested very readily with a walk-in service as soon as you acquire any symptoms, the likelihood of being able to contact trace - and therefore protect Ballarat - is strong.

"We could probably continue our economic activity and prosperity if we protect ourselves from infection coming up from Melbourne.

"It's great to ramp up testing in metropolitan Melbourne, but why haven't we ramped up testing [in places without active cases] so that we can keep them that way?"

There were no appointments available on the online booking system until Wednesday when The Courier checked early on Sunday afternoon. UFS is currently reporting a two or three day wait for test results to come through.

Currently the Lucas facility is the only one available in the city after testing centres at Morshead Park and Sebastopol closed.

Other health professionals had spoken out to The Courier about the delays in testing last week.

Dr David Deutscher, who was Committee for Ballarat chair until the end of last month, echoed Dr Yates' call for the return of a walk-in testing centre.

The Victoria Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton defended the level of testing on Sunday, citing the more than 150 testing centres are already set up across the state.

He recognised there were more cases being found in the regions but said most had "had some link back to Melbourne."

Dr Yates said those who had visited Melbourne in recent days should self-isolate. Mathematically, he said, there was a greater chance they could be spreading the virus.

He said he supported the call for more widespread wearing of masks but stressed that physical distancing was by far the most effective way to cut down the risk.

Dr Deutscher, who works as the clinical director at the Grampians Integrated Cancer Services, concurred.

He warned against complacency, and said residents should be "eternally vigilant" about physical distancing and hygiene to limit the virus's spread.

"We've seen a new spike - and it's a spike that's bigger than when [the pandemic] first started," he said.

He also called wearing of masks a "good idea" that was supported by research data and symbolised concern for the welfare of fellow citizens.