It feels like months since the COVID-19 pandemic halted our ‘normal’ lives for new lockdown restrictions and social distancing – and the question for weeks has been, when will this all end? Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy have laid out a three-step plan to reopen Australia amid the coronavirus pandemic that would be “achieved by July”.
Here’s what you need to know.
Step One
As Morrison outlined, step one of the phase-out period will see businesses, sporting centres and schools reopen. Restrictions on how many people can gather will also be relaxed, allowing non-work gatherings of up to ten people, up to ten guests at weddings (in addition to the couple and the celebrant) and up to twenty at funerals indoors and thirty if held outside.
Cafes and restaurants will also be allowed to open, but are restricted to seating ten customers at a time. Restrictions on hairdressers will also be allowed to open.
While retail stores and businesses will be allowed to open, social distancing guidelines and COVID safe plans will need to be put in place.
What will remain closed:
- Gyms
- Indoor movie theatres
- Stadiums
- Museums & galleries
- Pubs & clubs
- Beauty and massage therapy venues
Queensland will introduce this new phase on May 15 and Tasmania on May 18. Other states are yet to announce their dates.
Step Two
After step one is completed – with no rise in new COVID-19 cases, step two will be introduced. It looks much in the same as step one, but more non-essential businesses will be allowed to reopen as well as more people allowed to gather for non-work occasions.
A limit on twenty patrons/clients at a time will be placed on beauty and massage therapy venues, outdoor sporting events and pools. Cinemas, galleries, stadiums, and zoos will also be allowed to open.
What will remain closed:
- Pubs & clubs
- Casinos
Interstate travel could also resume in this stage, but it would require states who have closed their borders to ease those measures.
Step Three
While Morrison hasn’t laid out any time frame of when step three could possibly begin, the stage would see life returning to ‘normal’ with gatherings of up to a hundred permitted. Pubs, restaurants and other businesses will also be allowed to reopen.
Morrison stated that while the government had an aspiration to move through these three stages by July, the pace would be “up to the states and territories” and “subject to the health advice”.
