A community message from Mayor Danny Goss.

Published on 03 August 2020

As we move again to Stage 3 restrictions, I think we all understand the hardship in front of us.

As the Mayor of Baw Baw Shire, I want to urge and encourage all of my fellow citizens to obey the new laws and restrict your movements to essential ones only.

We have only ever had a handful of COVID-19 cases in our Shire.

So many people are quite rightly asking why they are being asked to sacrifice their normal day to day activities once again.

Of course, I don’t know the exact answer to that – and can only speculate. But it is apparent that this virus could quickly gain a foothold in a regional area such as ours - with devastating results.

We are so close to Melbourne and while COVID-19 is so rampant and out of control in the metropolitan area, it would not take much to ignite the spark of an outbreak here.

We have seen what has happened in other regional places such as Colac.

So, we need to stay vigilant.

Please remember to wear your face coverings and to especially keep your social distancing up.

I still feel too many people around our towns are not observing appropriate distancing.

We need to be aware of this as distancing is our new way of life.

We all understand the enormous hardship these new laws bring us and that there are so many secondary consequences for so many.

I think especially of those isolated at home and for those working in or running small businesses. Let’s support these people as much as we can.

We need, as a Community, to do whatever we can and to do the right thing and observe the law. We all need to play our part.

I am very proud of our Shire and of all our communities – large and small.

Let us all be good examples for each other and hopefully we can rid ourselves of this horrible virus and return to our normal way of life as soon as possible.

Stay safe everyone.

Cr Danny Goss Mayor – Baw Baw Shire Council

From 11:59pm on Wednesday 5 August, Stage 3 Stay at Home restrictions apply in regional Victoria including Baw Baw Shire.  That means there are only four reasons that you can leave home:

You may no longer have visitors to your home or visit other people in their homes.

For more details about the current situation, please visit our COVID-19 Community Support Hub.