Port Fairy police are enlisting the support of residents in an effort to keep the town COVID-19 free.
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Port Fairy police Sergeant Dave Walkley said in the lead-up to possible coronavirus restrictions being lifted in regional Victoria his officers had been checking known holiday homes to see who was living in the town.
"What we have been doing is checking holiday homes to confirm who is living here and who is not," he said. "When restrictions are eased we will continue monitoring those holiday homes to see who arrives."
Last year a family of four booked into Port Fairy accommodation, but returned to Melbourne when a relative got COVID-19. They were asymptomatic while in the town but later returned positive tests.
Sergeant Walkley said there was a range of options in relation to how Victoria's chief health officer may ease restrictions.
"What we are assuming at this stage is that Melbourne will remain locked down and we have a lot of holiday homes in Port Fairy owned by people from Melbourne," he said.
The police officer requested that when restrictions did ease that Port Fairy residents let police know when people arrived at their holiday homes.
"Then we can verify if those people are allowed to be in Port Fairy," he said.
"We have a very good idea of who should be here. Regardless of how the restrictions change, we will heavily rely on public assistance."
The commanding officer said the aim was to keep COVID-19 out of Port Fairy.
"We are trying to prevent it coming in. We want to prevent anyone from a hot spot coming in," he said.
"We want residents to provide us with that vital information. We don't want people to sit on their hands, to not provide information that leads to a super spreader event. If you are aware someone is in town who shouldn't be and don't provide that information, are you complicit in creating the opportunity for a super spreader event?"
