Photo: URBNSURF
Just a few weeks ago, URBNSURF Melbourne opened its doors to the public for the first time in months. Rain that caused muddy run off forced the park to close weeks after its grand opening in January, then by March, Australia’s first public wave pool was forced to close again due to the Coronavirus pandemic. So the June 19 re-open was a welcome and celebrated part of Australians easing back into pre-pandemic comforts and joys. On Wednesday, URBNSURF announced they’ve been forced to close their doors again as health officials decided Stage 3 “Stay at Home” restrictions needed to be reinstated across metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire for the next six weeks.
The news concerning URBNSURF, or course, is just a piece of a much larger pie in which Australians are now going back into tighter lockdown restrictions to fight the spread of COVID-19. A record high of 191 new cases prompted Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to reintroduce Australia’s Stage 3 restrictions, which limit Australians to leaving their homes for just four reasons over the next six weeks: Shopping for food and essential items. Care and caregiving. Exercise. Work and study – if you can’t do it from home.
“2020 has not been the year any of us wanted,” Andrews wrote in a statement. “Cancelled events. Plans put on pause. Uncertainty about what the future holds. And I guess that’s why so many people want to pretend this is over. That they can go back to how things once were. Others don’t have that luxury. In the last 36 hours we lost two more Victorian lives to this deadly virus. We don’t yet know their names, their stories or the circumstances in which they died. All we do know is that – except for the company and compassion of the medical staff who cared for them – they would have died alone. No family. No friends. No holding hands. No goodbyes. Denied the last quiet moments that we all hope for. That’s how dangerous and infectious this disease is. Thankfully, it’s a fate that most Victorian families have not been asked to endure. And I think, for some, that’s led to a creeping complacency.”
As such, pubs and nightclubs are closed while restaurants are open for takeout services only. Shopping centers, markets, and other retailers will be open under specific capacity and social distancing rules, leaving entertainment venues like URBNSURF to close its doors entirely.
“Due to the worsening coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, URBNSURF Melbourne will temporarily close from Thursday, 9 July 2020,” wrote URBNSURF CEO Damon Tudor. “Yesterday the Victorian Premier announced that Stage 3 “Stay At Home” restrictions will be reinstated across metropolitan Melbourne from 11.59 p.m. tonight (being Wednesday, 8 July 2020) for a period of six weeks. URBNSURF Melbourne is located within the Hume local government area, and as such, our operations are subject to these reinstated restrictions. Thankfully, we have not been notified of any cases of COVID-19 within the park.”
