However, some businesses are on the verge of shutting their doors.
Aussie Hotel owner Paul Tsobaris said he was constantly moving staff members around on the roster as they were pinged as close contacts or had symptoms of coronavirus.
“They’re dropping off like flies,” Mr Tsobaris said.
“It’s a game of chess just trying to keep the doors open.”
There were 37 new cases in Shepparton on Tuesday, down from 65 on Monday, but like across the rest of the country that number is likely to be under-reported as severe shortages of rapid antigen tests and long wait lines for PCR tests mean people haven’t been tested.
Hospitality venues have also been hit by staffing shortages, with few backpackers or foreign workers to take on hospitality jobs in bars, pubs, cafés and restaurants.
Mr Tsobaris said while he had been “absolutely flat out” across Christmas and into the new year, at lunchtime on Wednesday both the Aussie and the mall across the road were extraordinarily quiet.
He said people hadn’t quite started to cancel bookings out of fear of catching the virus, but he expected things to be very quiet during the next few weeks as Omicron case numbers begin to spike in regional Victoria.
Mr Tsobaris said “the system had crumbled” and governments and health services had failed people by failing to plan for spikes in cases.
“I wanted to grab some rapid tests for staff to test themselves before work, but there aren’t any,” he said.
“Earlier in the year there was support for businesses, but now there’s no support if your staff are sick or if you can’t open.”
The Collective owner Ingrid Thomas, who operates the Food Store and the Teller Collective, said she was also juggling staff.
“We have staff who are off, either because they’re close contacts or they’re isolating, as well as trying to make sure staff — especially restaurant staff — are getting their allocated time off,” Mrs Thomas said.
“Some people are having reduced hours or close for an extra day to help manage staff.”
She said it was “hospitality lotto” and yet another hurdle on the 22-month journey the industry had been on since the pandemic started.
She said bookings were starting to drop away.
“You can certainly see bookings coming in online, then with 24 hours to go they disappear,” Mrs Thomas said.
“We anticipate we’ll lose about 10 per cent of bookings on a given day.”
Shepparton Chamber of Commerce and Industry president John Anderson said it was concerning how widespread coronavirus was in Shepparton.
“Even though Omicron’s not quite as severe, people still need to get tested,” he said.
“I worked in the pharmacy over Christmas and new year and the phone was ringing off the hook with people asking about rapid antigen tests.
“It’s incredibly difficult to manage testing requirements and the rapid spread — and that filters through to businesses.”
He said a state or national conversation would be needed when students returned to schools in February, with unvaccinated children likely to spread the virus at schools.
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