Changes to mask, vaccination rules announced

Important changes to COVID settings in Victorian schools have been announced by the state government.

At 11.59pm on Friday 25 February, masks will no longer be required in most Victorian indoor settings, including secondary schools. However, masks will still be required for primary school children in grades three to six.

Minister for Health Martin Foley said masks were still required for students in those grades, and workers at early childhood centres and primary schools, but masks could be removed in secondary schools.

Primary school children in grades three to six will still need to wear masks in class because the vaccination rate in this age group is too low, Premier Dan Andrews told Nine.

He said requiring children younger than this to wear masks was too difficult to enforce.

“The most important thing about schools is schools being open,” he said.

The other important change for education staff concerns the vaccine mandate.

“The third dose deadline for workers in education facilities who were fully vaccinated on or before October 25 will be extended by a month, provided that workers have a booking within that time – meaning all education workers have until 25 March to be ‘up to date’.”

“Fully vaccinated workers who aren’t yet eligible for a third dose will have a third dose deadline of three months and two weeks from when they had their second dose.

“Workers whose temporary medical exemption (e.g., because they had COVID-19) has expired will have a new third dose deadline of two weeks following the expiry of the medical exemption.”

So, if you were vaccinated on or before 25 October 2021, then you will have to have your booster by 25 March (extended from 25 Feb). If you had your second vaccination after 25 October 2021, you have 3 months and 2 weeks from the date of that jab to get the booster.

If an education worker was unable to receive their third dose by a nominated deadline because they were quarantining as a household or household-like contact, they have an additional 14 days from the end of their quarantine period to receive their third dose, and may continue to work during this period provided they have a booking to receive their third dose.

If an education worker was required to be vaccinated but was unable to receive their third dose by a nominated deadline because they were recovering from a recent COVID-19 infection, they have an additional 4 months from the end of their isolation period to receive their third dose, provided their recent infection is confirmed by a PCR test.

Twice weekly rapid antigen testing (RAT) for teachers and students will remain in place for all of term one.

As part of today’s significant announcement, the public health recommendation for Victorians to work or study from home will be removed. From Monday 28, public hospitals will be able to resume all surgery, with capacity to be assessed based on staff levels and COVID-19 demand.

"We're going to a situation on Friday where there are essentially no COVID rules, or so few that it's unrecognisable to what it was a year ago, and indeed what it was two years ago," Premier Daniel Andrews said.

Victoria recorded 14 COVID deaths and 6786 cases on Tuesday. There are now 345 people in hospital with the virus, 48 of whom are in intensive care and eight are on a ventilator.

RATs identified 5,042 of today’s new cases.

Just under 56 per cent of eligible Victorians have now had three doses of vaccine.

Further details on the new restrictions will be published online at www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au from 11:59pm on 25 February.

For further information on COVID settings in schools and resources for education staff, click here.