October 11, 2021 | By Bronwen Largier | Image: Flemington Racecourse and Victorian Racing Club Facebook
As Victoria recorded another 1,890 cases of COVID-19, the state’s Premier Daniel Andrews announced yesterday that a metropolitan Melbourne trial of the vaccinated economy for events will take place at Spring Racing Carnival event the Melbourne Cup on November 2.
The trial will see up to 10,000 people at the event, split into zones.
The Melbourne Cup trial will follow a live music event at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in the city for thousands of people on October 30.
Andrews said the events are a “really important signal about what the next few months holds for all of us”.
“We’re going to normalise this virus, we’re going to move through this difficult gateway, we’re going to open up and we’re going to be back doing what we do best, and that’s big events and all the things that absolutely define us,” said Andrews.
“The food and wine, major events, all of those things are critical to our identity whether it’s live music or horse racing and everything in between, these are the sorts of things that are critical to our identity, to…tens of thousands of jobs, and they are a very important part of us opening up.”
The Melbourne trial events will follow regional trials across a number of venues – not just for events, but across the likes of pubs, art galleries, gyms and real estate agents – starting today which will test higher capacities.
The regional trials include a horse racing event in Warrnambool this week.
Victoria’s Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Martin Pakula said the trials were about testing settings of 80 percent vaccination, although large outdoor seated events are limited to 5,000 in Victoria’s original roadmap, with indoor events, including business events, capped at just 150 people.
The state government is expecting to hit its 80 percent vaccination target close to Melbourne Cup day. If it does, it’ll also be allowing crowds of up to 10,000 at the last two days of the Spring Racing Carnival.
From today, the state is also trialling an app which will allow people to check in to a venue or event and show their vaccination status at the same time.
The state reported another 1,612 cases of COVID-19 this morning.