All eyes on Errol St

All eyes have been on Errol St during the latest lockdown because of an outbreak of COVID at the local primary school with 300 people now traced as contacts.

But shoppers were still out on the street despite the growing list of exposure sites announced during the last week of the lockdown.

Mryna and David Macrae had just been to the IGA on Errol St.

“The school was a site and it made me think about the places people went,” Mryna told North West City News. “I made sure only one of us went into the supermarket.”

Although they were taking care to avoid the outbreak, David said he was not concerned about the dangers.

He said the authorities were focusing on airborne particles, not surfaces, and releasing useful information about exposure sites.

“I’m feckless,” he said. “I don’t care about the case in Errol St. It could be anywhere.”

The couple enjoy shopping. “We like to get out and bump into friends,” Mryna said. “It’s our main form of entertainment.”

As news of more exposure sites was released during the week, North Melbourne shoppers were lucky.

Just two tier-two exposure sites were reported in the suburb, a café in Abbotsford St and the North Melbourne Community Centre in Buncle St.

Errol St was spared any more exposure sites apart from the school. The West Melbourne family who spread the virus to the school shopped at Costco in Docklands.

Myrna and David said they had received the information about the sites through friends who were dedicated Costco users.

Residents say the lockdown hasn’t been as bad this time because of the practice they got during previous ones.

“I’m feeling we worked out ways last time,” Mryna said. David agreed. “This seems to have an endpoint.”

Cafes along Errol St were back in COVID-mode with entrance and  exit signs on the doors at the popular Auction Rooms, and Sublime, once again, had its street furniture off limits but the crosses hadn’t been reinstated on the floor.

At lunchtime people were buying takeaway and sitting on the median strip in Errol St but there were only a few.

“On a warm day there are 30 to 40 people sitting out there,” David said, but he added there were more people around this time than “in the bleakest time” last winter. “I’m doing the QR codes religiously,” Mryna said. “As long as you cooperate it’s much clearer.” •