Though most of Australia has enjoyed a relatively high level of success in restricting the spread of COVID-19, sustained community transmission of the virus saw Victoria mostly operating under a strict lockdown from July. Since last week, however, the state has started to reopen, and the insurance industry appears excited for the possibilities that lie ahead.
The lockdown was imposed as a result of surging numbers of COVID cases, which peaked at more than 700 per day, and saw many restaurants, cafes and bars shut down, as well as heavy restrictions on the distance one could travel from their home. According to a PwC model released by the office of the Melbourne mayor in September, the city’s CBD faces a $110 billion loss over the next five years owing to these restrictions.
Last Wednesday last week, however, saw many of these limitations eased as Victoria appears to have got its second wave of COVID-19 under control, with multiple days of zero cases of community transmission recorded. In Melbourne, retail stores and restaurants are now allowed to have groups of up to 10 indoors, while amenities such as gyms and fitness studios are set to reopen on November 08.
According to Hamish McDonald Nye, executive director of Professional Risk Underwriting Pty Ltd (ProRisk), his company’s Victoria-based workforce welcomed the news with open arms. Their offices in the state had moved from Richmond to East Melbourne at the start of July, which meant that staff were only able to spend one week in their new surroundings before remote working recommenced.
“In truth, a lot of our staff in Melbourne are keen to get back into the office,” he told Insurance Business. “Most of the ProRisk team members based in Sydney and Brisbane have already been able to do this successfully, and though we’ve certainly maintained a high level of collaboration and personal engagement through virtual meetings and the like, a lot of staff want to engage with the market and catch up in a one-on-one setting.”
McDonald Nye added that ProRisk has had flexible work arrangement in place “for a number of years at this point” and will continue to provide this option for its employees moving forward.
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For Kay Jackson (pictured), director of Ballarat-based Simplex Insurance Solutions, one of the main concerns of her clients was that the removal of the so-called “ring of steel” – a series of COVID-19 checkpoints surrounding metropolitan Melbourne – could lead to the coronavirus being spread more widely across the state.
“Since the majority of our clients are based in regional Victoria, they generally haven’t been affected as much as our Melbourne colleagues,” she said to Insurance Business.
“Of course, many rural Victorians are a bit anxious about the ‘ring of steel’ opening up again since, apart from cases in Shepparton and Kilmore that originated in Melbourne, regional Victoria has been COVID-19-free for almost four weeks at this point and wants to keep things heading in this direction.”
