Businesses slam mask rule limbo as QR codes are ditched
Victoria has recorded 6935 cases and 14 new Covid deaths on Friday. Meanwhile, businesses are fuming over the decision to hold off on announcing an end to mask mandates.
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Victoria has recorded 6935 Covid cases and 14 deaths on Friday.
There are 451 people with Covid in hospital, with 64 in intensive care and 16 on ventilators.
The state has 48,852 active cases.
More than 54 per cent of eligible Victorians are fully vaccinated, reciving their 3rd dose.
Victorian businesses have slammed a move to hold off on announcing an end to mask mandates, as New South Wales releases its official road map to reboot its CBD.
Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday morning revealed that QR codes would be ditched in some settings, density limits scrapped and dancefloors reopened, as reported by the Herald Sun on Wednesday night.
The changes will come into effect from 6pm on Friday.
But indoor mask rules will remain in place for at least one more week, and office workers will still be “strongly encouraged” to work from home, despite desperate pleas from industry leaders to hurry them back and ditch face coverings.
The government didn’t outline its plan to get people back into the heart of the city, but Mr Andrews flagged he may make an announcement next week, pending advice from Health Minister Martin Foley.
“We’re confident that we’ll be able to get to a situation next Friday where masks are off in the office and the advice changes, (it) drops, people will then be free and we’ll be encouraging them to go back to the office,” he said.
On the same day, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced that masks would come off in all but vulnerable settings, while QR check-ins are only required for nightclubs and festivals. Their work from home recommendation will also change from Friday.
Tim Piper, the Victorian Head of peak employer association AI Group, said “there is no reason to go slow making these policy decisions”.
“Let business know now that a return to work change will be made next week and help them to prepare ... There is no obvious reason to prolong these decisions.”
Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Paul Guerra said he was “frustrated” with the delay.
“The many CBD businesses that rely on weekday trade from office workers have been screaming out for a signal of when and how they can return, and they continue to languish while the bills mount up,” he said.
Small Business Australia chief Bill Lang said the announcement amounted to “little more than window dressing”.
“What our small business families want to see now is the same urgency the Premier showed when he shut down their businesses within hours any threat from Covid, to enact the same pace in ending all restrictions now,” he said.
Opposition leader Matthew Guy said Victoria was “yet again” trailing behind NSW in relaxing restrictions.
“Instead of giving Victorians certainty, Daniel Andrews’ drip-feed rule changes only cause more confusion and are seeing Victoria fall further behind,” he said.
It comes as Professor of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology at James Cook University Emma McBryde called for most restrictions - including masks - to be lifted before a predicted case surge in winter.
“It’s time to really take a lid off this pressure cooker. People are getting really sick of complying,” she said.
“When the people making the rules aren’t providing strong evidence based justifications, that’s going to lead to great outcomes in the long term.”
QR codes will also no longer be required in supermarkets or retail settings, but they will still be mandatory in places where vaccines are required.
The Australian Retailers Association welcomed the move but Restaurant and Catering chief Wes Lambert said the hospitality industry is “angry and flabbergasted”.
“At this point all these measure are about as useful as an coat in January,” he said.
Victoria struck by the great resignation
The great resignation is upon us with one-in-five workers quitting their jobs over the past year.
The findings flow from a survey of workers by National Australia Bank which also found one-in-four, or 25 per cent, are thinking about leaving their current job.
The global trend for workers to reassess their career path during Covid has been dubbed the great resignation.
The latest local insight into the trend follows job ads hitting a new record high in January and Victoria’s unemployment rate dropping to a near 50 year low.
NAB business bank executive Julie Rynski said people were leaving their jobs because of a lack of personal fulfilment, purpose or meaning, career limitations, mental health concerns and poor pay.
“Many Australians who are considering changing jobs are also looking for a fresh start, with around three in 10 planning to change industry,” she said.
“Clearly the pandemic has shifted the expectations of Australian workers and this research suggests employers now need to work harder to retain talent.”
Job turnover was greatest for general unskilled workers, with 37 per cent indicating they had changed jobs in the past year, followed by labourers at 29 per cent and IT and technology workers at 28 per cent, the NAB survey shows.
Around three in 10 workers indicated they were considering leaving their job because of a lack of personal fulfillment and purpose while 29% cited a lack of career growth.
The same number said they were considering leaving because of the impact of their current job on their mental health, while 27 per cent said poor pay and benefits, 23 per cent said poor work-life balance and 22 per cent said burnout.
“There are a number of theories why the great resignation might be happening but a heightened sense of mortality and burnout due to extra work particularly among frontline ‘essential’ workers is certainly high on the list,” Ms Rynski said.
“A strong rebound in the labour market is also giving people confidence they will find another job if they make the jump.”
Families in iso for months under school Covid rules
Psychologists and parents have called for the further relaxation of Covid rules in schools, including the wearing of masks and the isolation of siblings.
The state government on Thursday ruled students over the age of eight must continue wearing masks indoors and doing twice-weekly RATs until the end of term, with 24 million additional tests distributed to campuses.
Premier Daniel Andrews claimed the program will prevent more than 61,000 Covid infections by the end of term.
Kindergartens will also receive a further $3.8m in grants to improve ventilation and the number of air purifiers distributed to schools will double to more than 110,000.
The moves were backed by some educational stakeholders including the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, the Australian Education Union and Parents Victoria.
However, Melbourne lawyer Rhys Roberts said more than 100 parents least year joined a class action against the state government over the mask mandate.
He said that since then more parents have come forward “to take legal action that might just bring an end to mandatory masks in schools”.
Former primary school teacher and director of Inspiring Minds studio, Kylie Allen, said mask wearing “should be a choice rather than forced”.
“It can influence a child’s attitude, effort and happiness at school,” she said.
Dr Tammy Tempelhof from Elsternwick’s TT Psychology said sibling contacts should be able to do a RAT each day instead of staying home.
“Kids just want to be with kids. Having to stay home for a further week when they are not the ones with Covid is very unsettling for children,” she said.
Paediatric psychologist Amanda Abel said the “mental health downsides” to medical measures such as mask-wearing and isolation need to be considered.
“Masks cause discomfort and can be a real challenge in terms of learning,” she said.
“Some families have spent a month or more isolating – it’s often more than seven days as one child gets it after another.”
The federal government’s own health advice notes that “children, especially younger ones, appear less likely to spread the virus among themselves and to adults”.
Fiona Longmuir, a lecturer in education leadership from Monash University said mask wearing was “really tiring and hard” for students but necessary. “You do what you can to protect people,” she said.
It comes as nearly 3500 children and 250 staff tested positive for Covid on Monday and Tuesday this week.
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