Victoria to keep vaccine mandates for most workers as new isolation, mask rules unveiled

Victoria will keep vaccine mandates for most workers, against the public health advice, despite sweeping changes to the state’s COVID-19 framework announced on Wednesday.

Health Minister Martin Foley confirmed check-ins, mask-wearing and household isolation rules would be overhauled from 11.59pm Friday, in changes broadly welcomed by epidemiologists and business representatives, who have been pleading for the reforms.

Foley said the reforms were possible now that the Omicron BA.2 subvariant was past its peak, with two-thirds of adults boosted with a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

However, unlike NSW, which has been working in lockstep with Victoria, Foley has kept vaccine mandates in workplaces. The changes mean an unvaccinated person could dine at a restaurant but cannot work there.

Most critical workers, such as healthcare staff, teachers, aged care and truck drivers, need to have had three doses of a vaccine. Hospitality, office and construction workers need to have had two doses.

The majority of people who need to be vaccinated have done so, with 94.5 per cent of people over 12 now double-vaccinated.

On April 7, in his most recently published advice to Foley, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said vaccine mandates could be removed in most workplaces “at the earliest reasonable juncture” so that they became “at the discretion of industry and individual workplaces”.

On Wednesday, he said Foley had not ignored his advice despite keeping the mandate.

“I’ve made a recommendation of a transition out of those mandates, but they need to be worked through industry by industry, they need to do their own risk assessments,” Sutton said.

Sutton provides health advice to Foley, who makes the final decision under Victoria’s new pandemic-specific legislation.

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley during today’s press conference.Credit: Simon Schluter

The latest reforms were welcomed by industry groups, which identified masks for customer-facing workers and isolation for healthy household contacts as the biggest issues facing business. Isolation rules had caused widespread staff shortages and restricted their capacity to open.

“The days of overzealous COVID rules are over,” Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra said.

Paul Guerra, chief executive of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said he was delighted by the “bold and appropriate” announcement.

The industry groups said the requirement for workers to be vaccinated was not causing major staffing issues.

However, King and Godfree executive chef Matteo Toffano said the mandate should be scrapped for hospitality workers.

“We are in a free country, and everyone should be free to work no matter the vaccination rates,” he said.

Major staff shortages meant that hospitality businesses could no longer afford to be as selective when hiring, Toffano said. The scrapping of vaccine mandates would allow people to be hired based on skill alone.

Under key changes announced on Wednesday, patrons will no longer have to show their vaccination status or check in at venues; masks will no longer be required in schools, hospitality, retail or any events; and close contacts will no longer have to quarantine. However, they will have to wear a mask indoors, avoid sensitive settings and record at least five negative rapid tests in the seven days after they were first in close contact with a confirmed case.

Executive chef at King and Godfree in Carlton Matteo Toffano.Credit: Joe Armao

Masks will continue to be required on public transport, in taxis and ride-share vehicles, in airports and hospitals.

Epidemiologists who spoke to The Age said the announcement broadly struck the right balance.

Professor Catherine Bennett, an epidemiologist from Deakin University, said the existing rules already required people to trust their peers and the overhaul from Saturday would be no different.

She said there may be circumstances where more people got tested because they were not afraid of forcing their household into isolation, but people needed to keep monitoring for symptoms.

“I don’t expect these changes to make a massive difference to the infection rate,” Bennett said.

Dr James Trauer from Monash University was a “little surprised” vaccine requirements for workers remained. He said vaccination was still the best measure against COVID-19, but the focus should be on public health messaging.

“We still need to be proactive and on the front foot, but that’s not through restricting people’s liberty,” Trauer said, noting that was not a universal view among epidemiologists.

He wanted more attention paid to the stressed healthcare system, including during the federal election campaign.

“We do still have a lot of strain on the health system,” Trauer said. “We’re having a once-in-a-century pandemic, but we’re not having a once-in-a-century conversation about reinvigorating the healthcare system.”

The Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association wanted more people to get their third dose, beyond the current 67.1 per cent of adults, before major changes were brought in.

The seven-day average has dropped below 10,000, but another 10,628 infections were announced on Wednesday and 437 people are in hospital with the virus. Fourteen people died in the last 24-hour reporting period.

Sutton was confident infections had plateaued and Wednesday’s figures were a blip, though he said there would be a “long tail” after the peak. A new Omicron subvariant has also arrived and Sutton urged people to keep getting vaccinated.

“I think it’s more steady-as-she-goes now than it’s ever been, but none of us should be complacent about what future challenges might arise.”

Foley said the level of vaccination in the community meant there was room to get out of people’s lives.

“We can take these safe proportionate steps, return life as much as possible to normal and put the responsibility and the shared responsibility of protecting each other and protecting our health system back to the normal processes of industry, workplace and community level measures,” Foley said.

“We’re pretty confident that continued high rates of vaccination have gotten us this far and will get us safely through the winter.”

Tina King, of the Australian Principals Federation, welcomed the changes in time for term 2, particularly the removal of masks for children in grades 3 to 6.

“There’s no doubt it will be much easier not having the [mask] mandate, however I think people will continue to be cautious and some will still wear them,” she said.

King said the removal of seven-day isolation for household contacts would limit staffing shortages endured in term 1.

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said some COVID-19 rules should not have been enforced in the first place, particularly masks for school children. Others, such as close contact isolation rules, should have been eased weeks ago, she said.

“We need to now look to the future,” Crozier said.

With Marta Pascual Juanola

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