Should the Victorian state government have closed the borders to people during the summer period?
In the weeks leading up to Christmas 2020, there were several outbreaks of COVID-19 in parts of Sydney. This lead to the Victorian State Government introducing a “traffic light system” to guide Victorians about which parts of Australia were safe to travel in. “Green” zones were able to be freely travelled, “Orange” zones were allowed to be travelled, so long as people tested for the virus within 72 hours of returning to Victoria, and the “Red” zone was unable to be travelled to.
However, the colour given to certain zones changed quickly (in some cases overnight) and people were confused about the rules for the different zones. Many people thought that they would be able to travel to a red zone if they quarantined for two weeks when they returned to Victoria, but in fact they were barred from returning to Victoria. However the state government had warned travellers that the situation might change quickly and that they should re-think whether they really needed to travel interstate at all.
