The ACT government has released a roadmap which details what would happen if COVID-19 came to Canberra

The ACT government has released a roadmap which details what would happen if COVID-19 came to Canberra

Canberrans have had a pandemic experience unlike most other capital cities.
The ACT faced its only city-wide lockdown in April last year, which lasted five weeks.
The territory has also not recorded a single locally acquired case in 356 days.
And, this week, for the first time since the pandemic began, Canberrans were mandated to wear masks indoors.
Despite there being no known cases of COVID-19 in the territory, the ACT government has revealed how life in the national capital would change if the virus jumped the border.
But it is important to stress that the roadmap could differ depending on the size and scale of any potential outbreak.

1. 'Pause and assess'

For ACT health authorities, early detection is key. 
If a positive case is discovered in the next few days, the first steps are well known: the infected person isolates, contact tracing begins, the public is informed of potential exposure sites and genomic sequencing is launched to identify the virus's strain.
Health authorities will assess the case and determine the significance of the outbreak.
Then, the territory effectively goes into lockdown. 
A "rapid, but brief, pause and assess" would be implemented, similar to the stay-at-home orders residents of Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong are currently facing.
During this pause, Canberrans would only be allowed to leave home for the following reasons:

• to undertake essential work or study, if you cannot work or study from home or remotely
  
• to attend usual childcare arrangements, where parents or guardians need to undertake essential work or study
  
• to shop for essentials like groceries, medicine and necessary supplies
  
• to attend to medical or health care needs including compassionate requirements, and looking after the vulnerable
  
• to attend a facility to receive a COVID-19 vaccination, where you are eligible for a vaccination in the ACT, an appointment has been booked, and you are not in isolation or in quarantine
  
• to exercise outdoors, limited to one hour per day
  
• for essential animal welfare purposes (e.g. to feed pets or livestock that live elsewhere)
  
• leaving due to an emergency
  

Essential businesses such as supermarkets and pharmacies would be allowed to stay open and hospitality venues could be permitted to serve takeaway.
The ACT's Chief Health Officer would then outline any other rules, or travel restrictions, that were deemed necessary.

2. Tighter restrictions

Even once a lockdown ends, life won't go back to normal quickly, especially if there are indications of the highly contagious Delta variant in the community.
The ACT government says it could re-introduce caps on gathering sizes and non-essential businesses for a "variable period of time" — so, as long as it takes.
The changes Canberrans should expect during this time include:

• reduced numbers of people permitted to visit you at home
  
• reduced size of gatherings in outdoor spaces
  
• cap on gatherings at funerals and weddings
  
• reverting back to one person per four square metres across a venue, with limits on the total number of patrons/clients permitted within certain businesses, venues and facilities
  
• tighter density restrictions for known high-risk venues
  
• temporarily cancelling or reducing gathering sizes of community sporting fixtures and training
  
• postponing or cancelling events with approved exemptions
  
• requirements for staff and patrons to wear masks in certain environments such as personal care providers (beauticians, hairdressers, nail salon operators and tattooists)
  

Canberrans should also prepare for caps on visitors in high-risk settings such as hospitals, aged care facilities and prisons.

How likely is this to happen?

Ah, the million-dollar question.
Unfortunately there is simply no way of knowing. 
There are no known cases of COVID-19 in the territory and it is worth noting that the ACT has so far fared well through previous outbreaks in both NSW and Victoria.
In fact, it has been one of the least COVID-affected jurisdictions in Australia. 
But, it is clear that this outbreak in Sydney has ACT authorities on edge, especially given the porous border that separates the ACT and NSW.
On Thursday, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the territory was in a state of "high alert", revealing 11,000 people were under stay-at-home orders in the capital after returning from interstate. 
Another 40,000, he said, had filled out the ACT Health's online declaration form.
Although it appears the virus is yet to jump the border, the ACT government has prepared itself, and the community, like never before.
Masks are mandatory in all indoor venues, and, from July 15, Canberrans can be fined if they do not use the ACT government's Check In CBR app in more settings.
Licensed hospitality venues can also once more sell takeaway and home-delivered alcohol — a measure last in place during last year's city-wide lockdown.
It is clear health authorities are preparing for a worst-case scenario, and the government is making sure you are too.
Last year, the ACT was the last state or territory to record a positive case, and the first — in late April — to declare itself free of known cases.
Many Canberrans have since lived in relative freedom, watching as other capital cities have battled one-by-one through outbreaks of their own.
It seems only one case may change that.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-02/this-is-what-would-happen-if-covid-came-to-canberra/100259944