From January 31 until at least February 05, residents in the West Australian (WA) capital of Perth, as well as the Peel and South West regions, are undergoing a full lockdown after a hotel quarantine security guard tested positive to COVID-19.
According to WA Premier Mark McGowan, the guard was working on the same floor where a case of the highly infectious UK coronavirus variant had been detected, and held a second job as a driver for a rideshare company. Dr Andrew Robertson, chief medical officer for the state, stated that an immediate response was vital to contain the spread of the virus, particularly if it does prove to be a more transmissible version.
“If these variants get out into the community, particularly a community like WA where people have been able to intermingle […] it will spread quickly and that’s obviously what we’re trying to avoid,” Robertson said at a Press conference.
As part of the restrictions, schools and childcare centres in the potential exposure zones have been shut down for the lockdown’s duration. Cafes, restaurants, gyms, cinemas and a range of other venues and businesses have also been ordered to temporarily halt guests, though cafes and restaurants can still conduct takeaway orders.
The speed with which these restrictions were implemented led to a very busy start of the week for Brent Campbell (pictured top), executive director and state manager for WA at Oracle Group.
“From an internal perspective, soon after we found out about the impending lockdown, we sent out some communications to help organise our team so that they could work remotely, and so that was a pretty smooth transition,” Campbell told Insurance Business.
“In terms of clients, we’ve made a concerted effort to get on the front foot and promptly contact those who might be more affected, like restaurant owners and gym operators, to see if we can help them to temporarily restructure their operations and minimise things like face-to-face contact.”
Given that it’s the first locally-acquired case of COVID-19 in the state since March 2020, Campbell has been busy helping reacquaint his clients with social distancing restrictions and videoconferencing technologies.
“It was such a sudden lockdown that some people here have been a little unclear about whether or not they’re an essential worker and if they have to go into their place of work or work from home,” he said.
With a number of clients’ insurance policies coming up for renewal, Campbell said that this lockdown had already prompted some to inspect policy wordings in relation to business interruption and pandemic-related exclusion clauses.
“For us, it’s all about ensuring that these businesses, our clients, can stay agile and respond to changes in how they’re able to provide services,” he added.
Meanwhile, for David White (pictured immediately above), managing director of Perth-headquartered Phoenix Insurance Brokers, the lockdown hasn’t really affected his brokerage’s day-to-day work.
“It’s been business as usual over here so far,” he told Insurance Business.
“We’ve been set up with Zoom and the ability to work from home since March last year, and so at 8:30am on Monday morning, all staff members were ready to support clients and provide advice.”
White was quick to note that, though the lockdown came upon WA residents quite abruptly, the state has been “extremely fortunate” throughout this pandemic.
“Through a combination of geographic distance and government control, we’ve been quite lucky to have mostly enjoyed a fairly normal lifestyle and far fewer restrictions and lockdowns than our colleagues over in the eastern states,” he said.
