Mildura Food Company co-owner Adam Hobbs said diners had been enjoying the “last hurrah” of table service in the border city.
“People have been going out and having lunch and breakfast and doing the things they won’t be able to do over the next six weeks,” he said.
The business operates the Spanish Grill restaurant and Stefano’s Cafe.
Apart from the unusual sight of people wearing masks, Mr Hobbs said the main streets in Mildura felt much the same as usual on Monday.
While Geelong had the most active cases in regional Victoria, with 106 on Monday, Mildura remained free of COVID-19. Colac-Otway had the second-greatest number of cases at 89.
In Ballarat, Craig’s Royal Hotel managing director John Finning said the restaurant had been busy at the weekend and he expected it to be close to full on Monday night.
But he said the new restrictions had cast a pall over the business after the joy of reopening following the first round of restrictions.
“Staff are pretty dejected,” he said. “We came back on June 2 and there was a fair bit of enthusiasm.”
The number of active cases in Ballarat has remained steady in recent days at 11.
Ballarat mayor Ben Taylor said residents had already started wearing masks well before they became mandatory on Monday. He said frustration had set in, but the community wanted to retain the freedoms that still remained.
“It’s really disappointing because we did start to see a pick-up in hospitality about a week ago,” he said.
But Cr Taylor said there was widespread acceptance that restrictions must be observed, “knowing that stage three is better than stage four”.
The state government will offer $5000 grants to eligible hospitality businesses required to close in regional Victoria.
Geelong mayor Stephanie Asher said that while the stage three restrictions would hit businesses hard, they understood that stopping the spread of the virus was the top priority.
She said there was a high level of compliance with the mandatory mask rule.
“There is a collective determination in our region to limit the spread of the virus and keep our active case numbers as low as possible,” Cr Asher said.
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North-east of Melbourne, Indigo Shire mayor Jenny O’Connor said many communities in her area were still reeling from strict restrictions imposed by the New South Wales government.
She said many business owners and workers were unable to reach their jobs in NSW. “We’ve got a compounding and worsening situation,” she said.
Cr O’Connor, who is deputy chair of Rural Councils Victoria, said border communities had already been hit by the economic impact of the summer bushfires followed by the pandemic.
“It’s hard for everybody, but we are so tourism dependent,” she said. “I keep saying it’s been the year from hell.”
Benjamin is The Age's regional editor. He was previously state rounds reporter and has also covered education for The Age.
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2020-08-03 07:27:00Z
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