Regional community spirit a potent weapon in fight against COVID

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Just one month ago a very bleak picture was emerging in the city of Shepparton where a major coronavirus outbreak was threatening to spiral beyond control.

Infections were rising rapidly, pushing past 180 at the cluster’s peak. More than 20,000 people, many of them essential workers, were ordered to isolate.

Shepparton residents queue for COVID-19 testing. Credit:Joe Armao

So many residents were in quarantine that supermarkets ran short of workers, raising justifiable fears that families would go hungry because of difficulties in delivering food.

Some community leaders privately worried Shepparton would never free itself of the virus and Melbourne-level restrictions would remain until the entire state was 80 per cent fully vaccinated.

The odds were stacked against this city, which lies two hours north of Melbourne, making the local response all the more impressive.

They did not wait for the cavalry to arrive from the state government. Representatives from welfare, community and Indigenous organisations in the Goulburn Valley and the local council formed the GV Cares group.

They made sure everyone had access to food, medicines and other essential supplies while community leaders lobbied for help.

Some locals set aside their day jobs to drive vans laden with fresh produce to people in quarantine. This ensured residents in isolation could stay home rather than breaking the rules to feed their families.

Most residents needed little encouragement to come forward for testing, and they quickly overwhelmed the available sites – even though Goulburn Valley Health did express concerns that a minority of people were still waiting too long.

Within days of authorities confirming the first cases, Shepparton resembled a ghost town as business owners voluntarily closed their doors and dramatically reduced the opportunities for the virus to circulate.

Azem Elmaz donates free meals and Judi Hanlon delivers the food to families in need during Shepparton’s recent COVID outbreak.Credit:Joe Armao

Last week the number of active cases was brought down to single figures. It is a remarkable and rare global success story in the face of the Delta variant.

This pandemic has repeatedly forced us to ask ourselves, what are we willing to do for each other in the interests of public health?

Many regional communities have answered this question in the most emphatic fashion, helping to explain why most remain open.

Of course, regional Victoria has natural advantages. There is more open space than Melbourne and the population is more dispersed.

The Barwon Health vaccination hub in Geelong.Credit:Luis Ascui

There is less hustle and bustle than the capital city, allowing the virus fewer opportunities to spread.

But these factors do not account for all of regional Victoria’s success in repelling COVID-19.

Mutual obligation to fellow residents has played a crucial part in the response from regional communities that have crushed the virus.

In Colac last year locals overcame a major outbreak after a cluster took root in a lamb abattoir.

Like Shepparton, the community did not wait for support and implemented a self-imposed lockdown. Locals also organised food drops to people in isolation and delivered lunches and coffees to exhausted nurses at testing stations working gruelling shifts.

In November, I visited the Wimmera town of Charlton. As I pulled up in the main street and adjusted my mask, a woman scowled at me as if to say ‘don’t even think about letting it slip a millimetre below your nose’. The community expectation was clear.

Some regional health services have also led the way with a spirit of innovation that emphasised local expertise.

The Geelong-based Barwon Health provided the template that was later adopted across the state with a local public health unit that leveraged intimate knowledge of surrounding communities, giving contact tracers the best chance of suffocating any outbreaks.

A nurse administers a COVID vaccine in Bendigo.Credit:Jason South

In Bendigo, which previously led vaccinations rates in Australia, the local health service understood quickly that multicultural groups might need extra help and offered immunisations at a local Buddhist temple to protect the Karen community.

But regional communities will soon face another test.

When Victoria opens up at 80 per cent the virus is likely to reach towns that have remained largely untouched by substantial outbreaks.

Shepparton and other regional centres have recently recorded a small handful of positive cases, again testing community resolve.

Shepparton’s COVID testing hub.Credit:Eddie Jim

There are troubling pockets of vaccine resistance that will pose a major threat to vulnerable residents. Small rural health services may be quickly overwhelmed by local outbreaks.

Vaccination outreach programs should now be prioritised in regions that are not being immunised quickly enough.

Community spirit and commitment to following the rules may not be enough to fight off a Delta outbreak, despite the best efforts of locals.

But none of that should not overshadow the extraordinary achievements of those that have suppressed the virus and reclaimed their freedom.

Clearly, there is plenty we can learn from the spirit in regional communities and the willingness of so many people to do the right thing in the interests of protecting each other.

Benjamin Preiss is The Age’s regional editor.

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