The Victorian government has lifted its recommendation that people work from home but has vowed to maintain its public transport mask mandate, despite the requirement due to be dropped on domestic flights from next week.
Citing falling Covid case numbers and the end of winter, the state’s health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, said Victorians were now encouraged to cease working from home.
“Lifting the work from home recommendation is in line with current public health advice,” Thomas said.
“We encourage employers and employees to have a conversation about what’s right for their individual needs.”
However, masks are still required to be worn on public transport, in ride-share services and at hospitals, as well as indoors if you are a close Covid contact.
It is also mandatory to wear masks on public transport in New South Wales, Queensland, the ACT, Western Australia and South Australia.
National cabinet agreed on Wednesday to axe the mask mandate for domestic flights from 9 September.
But on Thursday morning Thomas said the loosening of national restrictions would not change the state’s requirement that people wear masks on public transport.
“I will continue to consider the health advice, but at the moment there are no plans in relation to change there,” Thomas said.
“Masks are a simple and effective way to reduce the spread of the virus. We’ve still got Covid in our community. It’s important that all members of the community understand that.”
The state’s public transport minister, Ben Carroll, said masks would be a “strong feature” in driving down Victoria’s infection rates, while the opposition leader, Matthew Guy, said masks should “probably stay” on public transport.
Prof Mike Toole, a Burnet Institute epidemiologist, said the lack of enforcement of public transport mask usage meant it was just a “recommendation” in reality.
“We’ve hardly got any precautions left so public transport masks should still be there but it then doesn’t make sense to remove masks from domestic flights, as people are even closer on flights compared to a tram,” Toole said.
“It’s true the seven-day average of cases has decreased but the reproductive number is hovering just below one which means cases will go down very slowly, so it hasn’t plunged like it did in January.”
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Prof Catherine Bennett, chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, said planes had better air management through filtration and individual air flow control.
“A full plane is still not the same people density as a crowded bus or tram with standing room only. Many of us use public transport far more frequently, if not daily, so we also have more exposure to others, more often,” she said.
Prof Peter Collignon, an infectious diseases physician at the Australian National University, said state governments should drop mask mandates but encourage people to wear them indoors in crowded settings.
“People can protect themselves by being vaccinated and boosted and if you’re more vulnerable getting access to medication,” he said.
Collignon said there was a lack of robust evidence to prove mask mandates made a difference to the amount of infection in a total population, particularly since the emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants.
But he said wearing a mask indoors likely decreased an individual’s risk by 15%. He also stressed that eye protection was vital for protection.
Victoria has passed its winter Covid peak, with hospital admissions and cases falling. As of Thursday, there were 332 patients with Covid in the state’s hospitals and seven in intensive care units.
Under the new national Covid settings, the seven-day isolation period will remain in place for people who have symptoms and workers in high-risk settings such as aged care – but has been reduced for all others without symptoms.