New Stay At Home rules for grandparents in Victoria

Victorian grandparents have been hit with updated rules about looking after their grandchildren, under orders in a new government document.

Victorian grandparents have been banned from looking after grandchildren even if that had been their regular arrangement.

Covid Response Commander Jeroen Weimar confirmed there was a tough interpretation of child care rules in Victoria.

That type of care was no longer considered normal household activity and was now outside the rules.

New restrictions were uploaded in a document put up on the Department of Health and Human Services website this week.

The Stay at Home orders were updated at 11.59pm on Thursday.

Mr Weimar said on Friday that the rules “suck” but they were needed to reduce the spread of the virus.

“We know that for many people if you know, if you’re if your nan looks after your kid, every Tuesday, that’s a normal thing, you may regard that as part of your normal household activity and that’s okay,” Mr Weimar said.

“At this point in time it’s not and that really sucks.

“But we’re trying to do everything we can to reduce this contact now, because those cases we’re talking about on the west, it could happen in any other part of our city, continue to be fuelled by those by those small little exchanges where the virus finds a way through into another grouping, another set of targets.”

Victoria's Covid Response Commander Jeroen Weimar. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

The document published this week on the Department of Health and Human Services website puts a clearer interpretation on how grandparents can give care.

Page 15 and 16 of the document restricts grandparents’ care to people who are authorised workers or those with vulnerable children.

A government source confirmed the update, but said it was a clarification of existing rules, rather than a new order.

The details were updated online in the frequently asked questions page this week.

They were further clarified following questions from parents about babysitting rules.

Under the rules, grandparents can only provide childcare if:

• The parents of the child are authorised workers

• The grandchildren are classed as vulnerable

• The child’s parent needs to go to a medical appointment for themselves that the child cannot attend

• To look after children for authorised workers on shift work, and to allow them to sleep

The rules came into effect on Friday, just days after Premier Daniel Andrews had said there were few options to make Victoria’s lockdown measures tougher.

It followed confusion last weekend when childcare was closed in Victoria.

There were questions about whether both or only one parent needed to be considered an authorised worker to access childcare in Victoria.

Two sets of rules had been in place during different lockdowns last year.

The current rules were finally clarified on Sunday evening, stating that only one parent needed to be an authorised worker.

Confused childcare centre staff were swamped with requests on Monday as parents tried to work out if they were able to still send their children.

It comes after grandparents were being urged to get a Covid-19 jab to help get their grandchildren back to school.

Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton has encouraged people over 60 to get a coronavirus jab. Picture: Sarah Matray

Victoria’s chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton said higher take-up rates of vaccination among people over 60 would allow more options for authorities to ease lockdown restrictions.

There is a surplus of six million AstraZeneca vaccines, which is the recommended option for those over 60.

But only 58.85 per cent of over 70s have been fully vaccinated in Australia despite having access to jabs since March.

Prof Sutton said if the rate in that age bracket was closer to 100 per cent, the Victorian government would have more ability to change restrictions.

When asked if grandparents who wanted to get their grandchildren back into classrooms should get a vaccine, Prof Sutton said: “Absolutely.”

“For everything, the protection that they’ll have in terms of going out in the community themselves, their interactions with their broader family, including kids, of course,” he said.

Prof Sutton said higher vaccine coverage of the over 60s was important because they had a higher risk of being hospitalised with Covid-19.

“We know that the higher the coverage for those most at risk individuals, over 60, over 70 prevents hospitalisation and ICU admission,” he said.

“From the global picture and from ICU admissions in Victoria and New South Wales in particular, a fully vaccinated person is a rare individual in ICU.”

He said a close to 100 per cent vaccination rate in that group would keep them out of “ICU and stops them dying”.

“So, of course, that provides greater assurance that we can ease restrictions without putting that very significant cohort of the population at risk,” Prof Sutton said.

Federal Health Department data shows that almost 60 per cent of those over 70 have been fully vaccinated across Australia.

The fully vaccinated take up in the over 70s age group has jumped from 39.3 per cent four weeks ago.

And 85.8 per cent have had their first dose, which means they were in the system to get a second dose within 12 weeks.

The office of Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the Government was guided by the Doherty Institute Modelling on plans to open up at 70 and 80 per cent fully vaccinated rates.

“We have already reached over 81.6 per cent first vaccination for over 60s, and 86.2 per cent first vaccination for over 70s, and 88.6 per cent for Aged Care residents,” a spokesman for Mr Hunt said.

“I’d urge every young person to encourage their grandparents to be vaccinated to protect themselves and their community, and every grandparent to encourage their children and grandchildren to vaccinate, to protect themselves and their community.”

The National Cabinet has agreed that lockdowns would be unlikely when vaccination levels reached 80 per cent across the board, but Prof Sutton said “we know we can keep going”.

Victoria and New South Wales remain in lockdown, with cases continuing to climb.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews refused to give a timeline of when students could return to classrooms.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian plans to provide a timeline for school reopenings on Friday.

But children in NSW were unlikely to be back in classrooms before the start of term four.

Victoria’s lockdown was scheduled to finish on September 2, but a spike in cases on Thursday has thrown those plans under a cloud.