In case you missed it, Victoria’s mask mandate and rules to leaving home when covid-positive are changing this week

Masks will no longer be required at Victorian airports while changes have been made to when you can leave the house if you've got covid.

As part of Victoria’s ongoing management of the coronavirus pandemic, a few changes have been made to the state’s pandemic orders to allow Victorians to live safely with COVID-19 while reducing transmission and hospitalisations.

From 11.59pm on Friday, June 24, masks will no longer be required at Victorian airports. So that’s one less thing to worry about while you’re stressed checking in and finding your gate.

The Key Takeaways

Masks must still be worn on public transport, taxis, ride shares, and planes, and are also still required in sensitive settings such as hospitals and care facilities.

Positive cases must still isolate for seven days from the day they took their test but they may now leave home to drive a household member directly to or from education or work without leaving their vehicle. They can also leave home to get medical care, a COVID-19 test, or in an emergency, including the risk of harm.

To continue to protect the most vulnerable through winter, workers who interact with a vulnerable person will still require three COVID-19 vaccine doses. This includes residential aged care and disability care, healthcare, and custodial and emergency services, including police.

Government imposed third dose mandates in education, food distribution, meat and seafood processing and quarantine accommodation sectors will be lifted. In line with other jurisdictions around Australia, vaccination policies will be the responsibility of individual workplaces.

As almost 95 per cent of Victorians 12 and older have had two COVID-19 doses, rules requiring general workers to work from home, unless they are double-vaccinated are lifted. Employers will still be able to set their own workplace conditions.

Visitor caps to care facilities, including residential aged care and disability are removed, with residents able to see any number of people as long as they test negative on a rapid antigen test that day. If a test is unavailable, a person can only be present for limited reasons such as end-of-life visits. Centres may introduce their own visitor rules to respond to local risk.

“These orders mean we can keep in place sensible settings to reduce case numbers and hospitalisations through winter, when the risk of transmission is highest, while allowing Victorians to live safely with Covid-19,” Victorian health minister Martin Foley said in a statement.

“Modest changes to our public health measures will keep Victorians protected as we continue to safely lift mandates and support businesses and individuals to begin to manage their own Covid-19 risk.”