Melburnians will be able to roam further from tomorrow with officials confirming the state’s 4th lockdown will ease with one new case reported yesterday. There are new rules, but the key point is locals will be able to get out and about whenever they choose but will need to stay within 25km of home. And the Melbourne/regional divide is set to remain in place for another week. Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said it’s the right approach because COVID cases are still being reported. “So we absolutely have to drive back down to zero,” he said. A bit happy but not totally stoked was Victorian Chamber of Commerce boss Paul Guerra. He said after a fortnight of closures, they’d hoped for more restrictions to be lifted to “keep jobs, businesses, livelihoods, culture and prosperity alive in Victoria.” And just like that, attention was diverted to NSW and Queensland…

BECAUSE OF STATE OF ORIGIN?
Yes, but that’s not what we’re referring to… Officials yesterday said a 44yo woman from Melbourne who had driven with her husband to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast over a few days last week has tested positive for the virus. Taking several days to make their way through western NSW, the pair crossed the Queensland border at Goondiwindi on Saturday. The state’s police said it was “too early” to say whether they had committed any breaches when they left Melbourne’s lockdown and went interstate. Officials have urged locals on their route to check the list of exposure sites (and here it is for Queensland and NSW) and they renewed their vaccination call.

WHAT WILL I GET WHEN I’M VACCINATED?
You mean besides the gratitude of the majority of Australians? You’ll get a certificate. Not one that you can frame, but a digital certificate that Government Services Minister Linda Reynolds yesterday said would make your vaccination status “accessible anytime, anywhere.” How and where it will be required is a whole chapter in our COVID story that’s yet to unfold. But reports say some businesses are keen to have a way to check their staff/customers’ vax status so they can provide rewards to those who have had the jab. Because that’s a totally normal thing to do in the 2020s…