Bachelor star Elora Murger closes cafe amid coronavirus fears

Former Bachelor star Elora Murger was forced to close her Mooloolaba café, The Rusty Batch, on Friday amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite opening just four months ago, she decided it was best for locals, her family and her mother visiting from France to cease trading for the time being.

The 29-year-old businesswoman told Daily Mail Australia she felt ‘at risk’ staying open because some customers didn’t appear to be taking COVID-19 seriously.

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Elora rose to fame on Matthew Johnson’s season of The Bachelor in 2017 before appearing on Bachelor in Paradise in 2018 and 2019.

‘To be honest, a lot of them [customers] weren’t taking this seriously, unfortunately,’ she said.

‘This is why I feel like I’m at risk here, because a lot of people are saying, “Nah, it’s just a flu.” But now people are starting to really worry about it.’

She said the reality of coronavirus didn’t hit home for many locals until an event at Noosa restaurant Sails was linked to 30 confirmed cases.

‘My fiancé [Azriel Wratten] was saying,”It’s not real until it happens to someone close to you.” But I don’t think anyone should wait until it happens to them to do something about it.’

The Australian government hasn’t yet forced restaurants and cafés to close, but they have been forced to shut their dining areas and can only offer takeaway.

These restrictions resulted in a 90 per cent drop in foot traffic and revenue for Elora’s café.

She said of her decision to close The Rusty Batch: ‘I felt like a bit of a hypocrite saying open as it’s almost allowing people to walk around.

‘I know that we all have to survive, but I think the government should be taking responsibility and forcing us to close down instead of staying open because somebody wants takeaway coffee.’

She urged the government to consider a complete lockdown, while also offering support to business owners and enforcing a moratorium on rent payments.

‘Everything should just go on standby, because if someone is worried about how they’re going to pay their bills they’re going to have to expose themselves to a risk just for the money, and it’s ridiculous. That’s ridiculous,’ Elora said.

‘[The Government] have enough money to help us out, so we don’t have to feel obligated to stay open to survive.

‘I think there’s no other way to go about it. It’s about prioritising what really matters,’ Elora said of wanting to minimise the risks to her patrons, family, and her mother.

‘With so many people coming in every day, we have to be careful and not take it home to Mum. She’s staying here for it and didn’t go back to France as she wanted to say safe.’

The former reality TV star also said she didn’t know when they’d be able to re-open The Rusty Batch cafe, and was concerned about how long they could financially afford to stay closed for.  

As of Friday March 27, there were 3,050 reported cases of coronavirus in Australia, including 13 deaths.

The global death toll of COVID-19 has now exceeded 24,000. 

It’s likely Australia will soon head into ‘stage three lockdown’, which could enforce the closure of some retail outlets, hairdressers and indoor and outdoor markets. 

Victoria and New South Wales could also both go into separate lockdowns as early as this weekend if the coronavirus crisis continues to deepen and Scott Morrison’s restrictions don’t flatten the curve.