Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced the launch of a series of new advertisements which aim to tell the real story of people’s experience battling COVID-19.
The new campaign will begin airing today across multiple platforms and features real Victorians relaying their health experience with coronavirus.
The premier hopes the ads will push home the idea the effects of coronavirus can be horrible now matter your age, sex or current state of health.
“This is about trying to tell a story to as many Victorians as possible that this virus does not, in any way, discriminate between people based on their age, based on their otherwise healthy status — so many people who have become positive and had very bad experiences were otherwise healthy and were younger,” Andrews said.
Andrews said the ads will show the impact on health and hopes that it will educate any naysayers who think the virus is little more than a cold.
“[In one of the ads, a woman], describes this growing phenomenon where, both here and abroad, we’re seeing more and more evidence that this is not like the common cold, even for those who get past it.
“It can have, and does have for many people, lingering chronic condition impacts on people’s quality of life.
In addition to the campaign featuring real-life patients, the premier said health care workers had also been enlisted to help spread the message.
“We’ve shot a number of ads where nurses — they, in fact, have thought of the ads themselves at our request —are speaking to multicultural communities in their own language,
Andrews said relaying the information to non-English speaking communities is vitally important.
“It’s about sending that message in its clearest sense from a healthcare worker who is the last line of defence out to those for whom English proficiency may be an issue — sending that message of “follow the rules, do the right thing, make the job of our health heroes just a little bit easier than it would otherwise be”.
” We have changed many, many times trying to refine the message, to target the message and we will continue to do that.
Andrews congratulated Victorians for by and large doing the right thing.
“This strategy is difficult, it’s heartbreaking, it’s very challenging but it’s the only one that will drive down movement across Victoria.”
The news of the new campaign comes as the state records another 322 cases of COVID-19 and 19 deaths overnight.
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