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Wellington, May 28, 2021
New Zealanders living in Melbourne are resigned to another lockdown, saying that although it was inevitable, it will still be hard.
The entire state of Victoria was placed into lockdown for seven days from 11.59 pm on May 27, 2021 as the Covid-19 cluster continues to grow.
Last figures show that the State has 34 active cases, with 26 linked cases and one person in Intensive Care.
Primary School Teacher’s plight
Elyse Lillie, a Primary School teacher, only returned from visiting family in New Zealand last week and said going into another lockdown would be hard.
“You hear the rumours normally before the big announcement and hence we have been building up to it for the last 24 hours. But it is hard – as a teacher I just see how the children feel about it and the last snap lockdown they were really devastated.
“So, I am hopeful that it will just be another seven days. I do really feel for the people who had plans to come home this week,” she said.
Lillie lined up for over two hours to get a Covid-19 test on May 26, 2021.
“It was really busy… They were supposed to be closing at 5pm but by the time I got through it was just after 6pm and they said they were going to be going through until 9pm,” she said.
Causal migrant workers
Sara Cowdell said that she was not looking forward to another lockdown but was concerned about casual migrant workers like herself.
“Every time there is a short lockdown, if you are a casual worker, you just do not get paid. In both my jobs – I am a Duty Manager at an arts venue and I am a waitress at a restaurant – so when all those things shut down I just don’t get paid. That is always a bit stressful and something I have a bit of beef with when it comes to workers’ rights,” she said.
Meanwhile, Jo Needham was looking forward to seeing her grandson on Saturday (May 29, 2021), which would now not happen.
“They were planning to come over and bring him over and all her friends are here and all the babies and all the children and they were just going to have a lovely week.
“It was going to be his first trip – he is 10 months now… she was a bit tearful [about it] but pragmatic and it is what it is, they’ll reschedule perhaps at the end of the month,” she said.
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