Mask restrictions could be wound back for Victorian primary school students

Masks for primary school students could be wound back by the time they return to the classroom next term as changes to pandemic orders come into effect on Tuesday.

Victorian schoolchildren won’t have to wear masks when they return to primary school next term.

The state government on Tuesday finally announced masks would be scrapped in classrooms when children return after Easter, provided the latest Covid outbreak eases as expected.

The long-awaited softening of restrictions comes just weeks after the Herald Sun revealed the growing chorus of health and child behavioural experts calling for the mandate to go.

Currently, only students in grades three to six are required to wear the face coverings, while their secondary counterparts don’t need to.

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, the government said: “If epidemiological conditions are as forecast, we expect schoolchildren will not have to wear masks when they return for term 2.”

The state government has given its strongest indication yet that masks will be scrapped in primary schools.

It came after Premier Daniel Andrews said case numbers appeared to have stabilised, with 10,293 local infections recorded on Tuesday.

Expert forecasting has suggested that the current Omicron BA.2 wave will peak around mid-April in most states and territories.

“Once we get past a peak, once we start to see those numbers coming off, we will have options that are not available to us now,” Mr Andrews said.

Director of the Child and Adolescent Health PhD Program at Melbourne University and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Fiona Russell, who recently chaired a World Health Organisation and UNICEF guideline group on children wearing masks, said it was about time the mandate was lifted.

“It is very good news for primary school age children that the mask mandate will be lifted for this age group,” she told the Herald Sun.

“This now aligns with face mask guidelines for all other age groups.

“The most important thing parents can do is to get their children vaccinated. This is important, even for children who have already been infected, as reinfections can occur.”

A person’s vaccination status also won’t apply at any polling place for the coming federal election under other changes to pandemic orders that came into effect from 11.59pm on Tuesday.

But the government is yet to relax isolation rules for household contacts of positive cases or wind back the vaccinated economy.

Health departments in Victoria, NSW and Queensland have committed to co-ordinating requirements for cruise ship operators and passengers in time for the lifting of the federal government’s ban on ocean liners, which is due this month.

All passengers aged over 12 must have at least two doses of a Covid vaccine, while all crew must have three doses.

“We currently have the fewest restrictions in place since the beginning of the pandemic, and the sensible settings that are in place can be reviewed following the peak in cases,” Victoria’s Health Minister, Martin Foley, said.