Victorians required to wear masks outdoors as experts backflip on advice

Victorians will be forced to wear masks outdoors after a government backflip. But experts say there’s little evidence they are necessary.

Victoria’s experts backflipped on easing restrictions on Thursday, making masks mandatory outdoors despite not a single recorded case of transmission in open space.

The state’s plans to lift lockdown at midnight on Thursday will still go ahead after the emergence of four new local cases with no identifiable source.

Acting Premier James Merlino said the state will continue to take “cautious next steps” from 11:59pm by easing restrictions, adding that Victoria is “moving ahead but we are on high alert”.

As an added precaution, he said masks will now still be mandatory at all times while outdoors.

“We’ve always said that, when we could ease restrictions, based on that advice, we would,” he said.

“We also said yesterday – and we’ve been saying every single day – this is not over yet and the risks of this virus will be a factor in our lives in the long term and in the short term so in the short, that means we are moving ahead but we are on high alert and the public health advice is very, very clear.”

Four new mystery cases have put Victoria on “high alert”. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Victoria’s covid response commander Jeroen Weimar was asked whether there had been any cases in Victoria where a person was infected with covid in an outdoor setting.

“There is no current evidence on the most recent outbreaks in Melbourne there has been transmission of the virus outdoors?” Mr Weimar was asked.

“Correct,” he responded.

The reporter asked him why it was then necessary to wear masks outdoors.

“We have done a power of work over the last two weeks under the lockdown previously to get as much information as possible, to isolate 8000 primary close contacts at one point, to hold down the head of this outbreak to the very low numbers we see at the moment, the evidence overnight as we have community transmission happening we are not aware of,” he said.

But Melbourne GP, Dr Vyom Sharma, said there is “little evidence masks reduce transmission outdoors”.

“I suspect the rule is in place to raise overall compliance of people having a mask on them at all times, so can be used when they enter indoors,” he told news.com.au.

“I can see it’s a policy conundrum. Regardless I do not think that *wearing* masks outdoors should be enforced unless people are gathering in discrete groups, or interacting with others.”

Interesting. Never heard this 5% figure before. My understanding is that there have been extremely few confirmed cases of outdoor transmission in the world. Although it is harder to trace outdoor transmissions. https://t.co/nQ0v2FSF6J

— Dr Vyom Sharma (ethnic mum) (@drvyom) June 10, 2021

The country’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly said the decision to wear masks outdoors was “a decision for Victoria”.

“I think the rationale for the Victorian decision is an abundance of caution,” he said.

Four new mystery cases — all from the same household in Melbourne’s northern suburbs — have added a hurdle to the road out of restrictions for Victoria.

On Tuesday, senior Victorian government sources told the Herald Sun the one thing that could force authorities to keep lockdown restrictions in place would be a “significant” rise in mystery cases.

“We are certainly on course to lift the lockdown as scheduled,” one senior source told the publication. “Unless there is a massive shock, we would be expecting that to happen.”

Today authorities said the health advice tells them they can go ahead with the easing of restrictions, but with the added outdoor mask rules in place.

Reported yesterday: 4 new local cases and no new cases acquired overseas.
- 20,784 vaccine doses administered
- 23,679 test results received

More later: https://t.co/lIUrl1hf3W

Got symptoms? Get tested.#COVID19VicData#COVID19Vic [1/2] pic.twitter.com/k4iMcPmaaq

— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 9, 2021

It comes as NSW prepares to lift a stay-at-home order for people in NSW who have been in Victoria since 4pm on Thursday 27 May.

The order will no longer apply from 12.01am on Friday.

Deputy chief health officer Prof Allen Cheng the four new cases have not yet been linked to any outbreak — adding that they are the “strongest reminder that we are, by no means, out of the woods yet”.

“As yet, we don’t know where they’ve acquired the infection from. They’re not identified as close contacts,” he said.

“The first man, a man in his 80s, was tested on 8 June and got his result yesterday. The other members of the household tested positive yesterday as well.

“We’re already tested several close contact of these cases outside of the household and they’ve all come back negative but obviously will remain in quarantine.”

He said he was anxious to find out how the family had been infected.

“As I’ve said before, what we get down to small numbers, what happens next is very dependent on how the last cases are, who they do and how infectious they are,” he said.

“Over the last fortnight, there have been very limited opportunities for people to transmit infection during lockdown and obviously what I am anxious about is whoever gave infection to both these groups is identified quickly and doesn’t have the opportunity to transmit to other people.”

Deputy Chief Health Officer Professor Allen Cheng. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Paul Jeffers

There are now 78 active cases and 180 exposure sites across the state.

Acting Premier James Merlino confirmed the new changes to lockdown on Wednesday.

It comes after thousands of regional Victorians were being urged to monitor for Covid-19 symptoms after viral fragments were found in sewage in Bendigo.

Residents and recent visitors to the suburbs of California Gully, Eaglehawk, Epsom, Huntly, Jackass Flat, Maiden Gully, Marong, North Bendigo and Sailors Gully between June 3 and 7 should get tested if any Covid-19 symptoms develop.

The Victorian Department of Health said the detection of fragments of coronavirus was of “interest” as there were no confirmed cases in the area.

Despite the good news that Melbourne will ease out of lockdown Victoria chief health officer Brett Sutton was still cautious.

“We have to recognise it remains a reasonably volatile situation,” he said.

“The idea of a snap back to absolutely no restrictions whatsoever, no one has done that after significant community transmission.

“We have to move by increments, safely, but with the minimum restrictions that we know will continue to control this.”