Health Minister rejects experts’ plea for mask mandate; masks, working from home strongly advised

The head of the Australian Medical Association has blasted the Andrews government’s decision to ignore health advice to re-implement mask mandates.

Victoria’s Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas has been slammed after admitting she rejected health advice that recommended more mask mandates across the state.

It comes as the 12-week immunity period that exempted people from isolating or testing if they recently had Covid was reduced to four weeks in Victoria.

After locking Victorians down for more than 260 days on the basis of such health advice, Ms Thomas on Tuesday acknowledged that the government would not follow that same recommendation.

But she refused to say whether that was in recognition of the upcoming November state election.

It’s understood that Acting chief health officer Professor Ben Cowie wanted mask mandates to be re-implemented in schools and early childhood centres, as well as in some hospitality and retail settings.

But Ms Thomas stopped short of mandating them and instead strongly recommended masks in indoor and crowded settings.

“I made a decision based on the advice that I had received that further mandating of masks was not the most effective way to get the message out about the importance of mask-wearing,” she said.

“We need to empower Victorians to make their own decisions.”

The recommendations included mandating masks at schools again. Picture: Mark Stewart

Ms Thomas also requested that employers consider working from home arrangements that are “most appropriate for their workplace and employees based on individual requirements”.

The head of the Australian Medical Association blasted the Andrews government’s decision to ignore health advice.

Victorian president Dr Roderick McRae said “too much weight” had been put on the input of the business community, who have long warned that extra restrictions would cripple the sector.

“Clearly there’s a new minister and we have our political leaders there to weigh up all the inputs. All I can do is repeat until I go blue in the face — the emphasis from business is receiving too much weight,” he said.

“It’s courageous to ignore accurate, precise medical advice in the middle of a global pandemic that continues to kill people.

“We’re three years down the road, we’ve learnt nothing and we’re in a worse position. We cannot wish this away.”

Dr McRae said objective evidence continues to show that when mask mandates were in place, morbidity and mortality of Covid, and overwhelm on the wider health system, was “not as bad as it is today”.

“We understand that all Victorians know the right thing to do, but it appears very few are actually doing the right thing. It appears to be a community wide peer group pressure based complacency and wilful denial of what’s going on,” he added.

“It’s very easy to see that there’s some political expediency at play here, because we understand Victorians had a difficult time with lockdowns.”

Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan watches as Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas provides a Covid update. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Dr McRae predicted it was “extremely likely” that the health minister will have no choice but to cut elective surgeries.

“Things are very bad. The only tool we have left in the toolbox is to do no elective surgery,” he added.

Meanwhile, Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra welcomed the approach of mask recommendations rather than mandates.

“This puts the decision making back on the individual and businesses,” he said.

“We have advocated that mandates should be avoided. This is a commonsense approach which enables people to make their own decisions to protect their health, the health of their clients and their family and friends.

“The Victorian Chamber is cognisant of concerns over the increase in Covid case numbers, coupled with a difficult cold and flu season.

“Business can and will play our part, just as we have throughout the pandemic.”

Throughout the pandemic, the state government has prided itself on telling Victorians that it would always follow — and prioritise — the health advice.

Asked if that was no longer the case, acting Premier Jacinta Allan said there had been other circumstances where such health advice wasn’t acted on.

“There has been other times over the course of the pandemic, where the health minister of the day has taken on the advice of health, but not followed all of the advice that was given at that point in time,” she said.

Victorians have been strongly advised to mask up and work from home. Picture: Supplied

“Under that pandemic legislation that the government operates under, there is that requirement to consider the health advice, to consider advice and input from business and community leaders, to talk to interstate colleagues and take on board the broader social and economic settings of the day.

“The minister has followed that entirely appropriate and assiduously in making the decision today.”

It comes as Ms Thomas repeatedly refused to release future modelling on Covid cases, hospitalisations and deaths.

Instead, she said any such modelling would be speculative and would be swayed on the take up of incoming health recommendations.

Asked directly if she had actually obtained any modelling, Ms Thomas said: “I receive a range of advice and that does include some modelling and some expectation around what we might see with various interventions.”

Meanwhile, Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said about 800 Victorians were currently in hospital with Covid with 4000 hospitalised across the country.

“All of the modelling indicates that case numbers and hospitalisations have further to go over the next four to six weeks,” he told 3AW on Tuesday.

“We will continue to see case numbers rise, we will continue to see increased pressure on our hospitals.”

Mr Butler said hospitalisation numbers were likely to reach 5000 like it did in January.

“The difference between now and January is that we are in winter,” he said.

“There is still a substantial flu pressure on our hospitals and all of the other things that happen to the hospital system in winter so it’s not really apples and apples.

“5000 (hospitalisations) is going to put very serious pressure on our hospitals.”

Mr Butler said he strongly recommended masking up and working from home if possible.

He also said that he would be “very surprised if there wasn’t pressure on elective surgery lifts in a number of states over the coming four to six weeks”.

The fresh advice comes after a 53 per cent increase in the number of Victorians in hospital with Covid over the past two weeks.

It coincides with a new public health messaging campaign, called “Stay Well in Winter” to run across TV, radio, outdoor and digital channels.

It will spruik calls for the community to get their third and fourth Covid doses, as well as flu vaccination.

The government also unveiled another round of its Small Business Ventilation Grant Program to help businesses invest in equipment that will keep their workers and customers safe in indoor settings.

Ms Thomas said the government was working with business and community leaders to ensure advice and information was provided to the wider community.

“As we’re seeing across the globe and around Australia, winter means more time inside where Covid-19 and the flu can spread,” she said.

“It also means our nurses, ambos and doctors have never worked harder, and we can’t thank them enough.

“Wearing a mask, getting up to date with your vaccinations and ensuring indoor areas are well ventilated are small but effective steps Victorians and businesses can take to manage their own Covid-19 risk this winter.”

Positive cases are still required to isolate for seven days from the day they took their test.

But they are able to leave their house to provide transport for a household member to obtain food, if essential.

The infected person will need to remain in the car and wear a face covering at all times.

Originally published as Health Minister rejects experts’ plea for mask mandate; masks, working from home strongly advised