Warrnambool businesses devastated as they prepare for state's fifth lockdown

Premier Daniel Andrews announced the circuit-breaker lockdown late on Thursday afternoon.

"You only get one chance to go hard and go fast," he said.

"If you wait, if you hesitate, if you doubt, then you will always be looking back wishing you had done more earlier. I am not prepared to avoid a five-day lockdown now only to find ourselves in a five-week or a five-month lockdown.

"That is why we are making this very difficult decision and why I know Victorians will, despite the pain and difficulty of this, no know and understand there is no option."

Rafferty's Tavern owner Mark McIllroy said he was devastated that his business had been hit by a fifth lockdown.

He said he was worried about his casual staff and their families, most of whom live week-to-week.

Mr McIllroy said he hoped the government was able to provide more support for them because at the moment, help didn't kick in for seven days

"The hospitality industry is already starved for good staff and this is the reason why. We keep getting locked down," he said.

"It's very hard to run a business with all the stop-starting.

"It's very hard to keep motivated."

However, he said he hoped everyone stayed safe.

"Let's do the five days, knock it on the head. Let's get it done. People's lives matter more than business obviously," he said.

"Hopefully it's the last.

"It has to be for everyone's morale."

Mr McIllroy said that while he was in shock, it was "always on the cards".

He said with NSW in the situation it was in, it was only a matter of time before it spread to Victoria.

Best Western Olde Maritime Motor Inn owner Raj Patel said the phones were already ringing with people from Melbourne cancelling their bookings.

"Just had phone call after phone of people cancelling," he said.

"What can you the do. It's the fifth time it's happened."

He said people who were supposed to stay in the region on holidays for the next three or four days on holiday were planning to head home tomorrow.

"It's not good. If it's just a short snap lockdown I can deal with it. If it's three, four, five weeks I can't. It's too hard," Mr Patel said.

Phinc owner Tracey Togni said it was disappointing because businesses had just got back on their feet and into the swing of things and now had to lock down again.

"But we might as well get it over and done with as quick as possible rather than holding back," she said.

"Get it over and done with and move forward."

Ms Togni said it was going to be hard for retail because they had another week of no income, unless they could rely on online sales.

"It's part of our life now. There's nothing we can do anyway," she said.

She said she was trying to stay positive.

St Pius X Parish School principal Joe Ewing said the school had done the groundwork to prepare for snap lockdowns if needed.

He said the school of 260 students was calm on Thursday afternoon and he had spoken with staff at the Catholic education office about the potential for learning to occur from homes on Friday.

"If the kids are required to be at home tomorrow there will be home activities that don't rely on connectivity or the internet because families haven't been able to prepare for that," Mr Ewing said.

He said the school had up to five days of remote learning prepared in case another lockdown occurred.

"Last year we banked it, and anytime we have eaten into that planning we have re-banked it. We always have something up our sleeves that can be pushed out if need be," Mr Ewing said.

Deep Blue Hotel and Hot Springs and Warrnambool Mid City Motel co-owner Gene Seabrook said the lockdown could cost the businesses up to $350,000 in costs and lost revenue.

"It is just more revenue lost again," Mr Seabrook said.

"I am thankful we got the school holidays in; it is disappointing, obviously there's no announcement for compensation for staff yet."

He said the 115 staff, particularly those casually employed, would be affected.

"It's not sustainable," Mr Seabrook said.

"We will be tapping into the overdraft, you don't have time to go and apply for a loan."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.

CORONAVIRUS STORIES:

We have removed our paywall from our stories about the coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we aim to make sure our readers are as informed as possible. If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe here.