Major announcement on the future of Tasmania’s border restrictions
Tasmania will reopen its borders to fully vaccinated travellers who return a negative Covid test as the Premier urges residents to “get your skates on” and get vaccinated. BORDER PLANS >>
Tasmania
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TASMANIA will reopen its borders to fully-vaccinated travellers from interstate from December 15, Premier Peter Gutwein has announced.
Releasing his “Reconnecting Tasmania” road map to take the state out of Covid-19 related travel restrictions, Mr Gutwein said that for up to four weeks, travellers would be required to produce evidence of a negative Covid test as well.
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He ended the mask order for southern Tasmania from 3pm on Friday, except for major events, and eased restrictions on visits to hospitals and aged care facilities from 6pm.
“On the 15th of December, we will reopen our borders,” Mr Gutwein said.
“At that date I am confident that everyone above the age of 12 will have had the opportunity to be vaccinated.
“I’m also confident that we will have achieved a 90 per cent vaccination rate, as long as people continue to turn up.
“Today I am signalling to every eligible Tasmania over the age of 12, if you’re not vaccinated, get it done and get it done as soon as you can.
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“Don’t wait until December 14. Make an appointment today and get it done as quickly and as soon as you can.”
Tasmanians travelling for less than seven days will not require a Covid test.
International arrivals will be subject to the same rules at interstate travellers and arrangements for unvaccinated travellers are yet to be determined by public health authorities.
The opening up means there will be no further broadscale lockdowns, such as that of last weekend, although more focused restrictions affecting a local government area at most, would be considered if required.
“We’ve got modelling in front of us, and that provides a range of different possible scenarios, but the lived experience will be the lived experience and we work our way through that,” Mr Gutwein said.
“If we do have to have any additional public health measures that they’ll be targeted and localised.”
Kirby Institute modelling commissioned by the state government suggests that Tasmania will face up to 69,000 Covid-19 infections in the first 200 days of reopening, which will occupy up to 397 hospital beds with a peak infection rate in early March.
An estimated 148 people will die. Tasmania has to date experienced 237 cases and 13 deaths.
The health system will ramp up in response, with 152 additional beds for surge capacity, 100 additional ventilators, 75 beds in community facilities, and 2,500 monitors for patients at home among the measures.
The state’s stockpile of masks for health workers stands at 10m, with 54,000 litres of hand sanitiser, 2m gowns, 20m gloves and 82,000 faceshields.
Deputy Director of Public Health Scott McKeown stressed that modelling of the number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths was based on interstate and overseas experience and was a best estimate, not an exact science.
“The modelling that’s been undertaken, has been undertaken by a national expert in modelling and it has been informed by a lot of evidence that have been collected from lots of experiencing Covid around the country and internationally.
“It doesn’t tell us what that problem will actually look like — it’s not for forecasting — but it can help us understand how we can change that problem, what are the livers we can pull to make things look different.
“It does tell us that Covid transmission will be coming to Tasmania. It does tell us, best thing you can do about protecting yourself and protecting the wider community is to get vaccinated.”
State Health Commander Katherine Morgan Wicks said the health system had engaged in the largest-ever single-year recruitment drive with 644 full-time equivalent workers being taken on.
Tasmania’s vaccination rate stands at 85.7 per cent of those aged over 16 having had one jab and 70.6 per cent fully vaccinated.
Proof of vaccination status will soon be added to the CheckIn Tas app, as in other states.
The last group to be added to the eligibility list, 12 to 15 year-olds are now 50 per cent vaccinated.
Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff reassured Tasmanians the state’s hospital system — which has struggled under normal loads — was ready for the challenge ahead.
“It would be very understandable and natural for Tasmanians to feel concerned, worried and uncertain about what living with Covid-19 in our community presents,” he said.
“But I want to assure Tasmanians that we have been building capacity within our whole system over the course of the last 12 months and more and also assure Tasmanians that our health system is as prepared as we possibly can be for what the premier has announced today.”
He praised the 500 staff involved in the state’s vaccination push, saying it was a nation-leading effort to administer 700,000 doses so far — including 39,000 in the most week ended October 19.
The government also announced that mandatory vaccinations will be extended from the health sector to include the disability sector, with plans being developed to require workers to have received a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by mid to late November.
Labor health spokeswoman Anita Dow said she was not heartened by the government’s assurances about hospitals.
“The health system is at crisis point under this government, so how can Tasmanians have confidence in this government to manage a covid outbreak when our current health system isn’t meeting current demand,” she said.
“We saw what happened in the northwest of the state when we had large numbers of staff furloughed for long periods of time, we had to bring in the army forces to staff our hospitals in the northwest, we don’t want to see a repeat of that.”
“They’ve made lots of promises and commitments about health, about improving access to health, about more beds across the health system, about employing more staff, and many of those promises have fallen short over many years now. So, it’s all well and good to say we are prepared, but we still have some grave concerns.”
Mr Gutwein outlined the stages of the border reopening plan:
70% fully vaccinated 16+: Target reached
You can enter Tasmania from a low-risk area.
You can enter Tasmania from a high risk area subject to:
Being a returning Tasmanian or someone seeking to relocate and completing 14 days of hotel or home quarantine, depending on where you have travelled from. To be considered for home quarantine, you must be fully vaccinated (16 years+) unless an exemption applies, and return a negative test 72 hours prior to travel.
80% fully vaccinated 16+: Expected early November
You can enter Tasmania from a low-risk area.
You can enter Tasmania from a high risk area subject to:
Completing 14 days of home or hotel quarantine, with most Tasmanians and returning travellers able to undertake risk-based home quarantine (subject to public health approval) depending on where you have travelled from. To be considered for home quarantine, you must be fully vaccinated (16 years+, unless an exemption applies) and return a negative test prior to travel.
90% fully vaccinated 12+: Open December 15 (the date of all Tasmanians 12 years and over having had vaccine opportunity)
You can enter Tasmania from anywhere within Australia subject to:
Fully vaccination (12 years+) unless an exemption applies, and returning a negative test within 72 hours of travel (a test is not required from a fully vaccinated Tasmanian, if their trip is less than 7 days). People who travel to Tasmania who do not meet these criteria will be subject to additional quarantine and testing requirements.
The state of Australia
Meanwhile, Victorians have woken up to a raft of new freedoms for fully vaccinated residents after reaching its 70 per cent double vaccination goal yesterday.
The state recorded 2189 new cases and 16 deaths on Friday.
NSW recorded 345 new Covid cases and five deaths on Friday, with cases expected to rise over the coming days due to the state’s eased restrictions.
Queensland is also on high alert after a rideshare driver was infectious in the community for 10 days. Authorities said the man is “so sick” he can barely speak with contact tracers.
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