By Danielle Kutchel
The State Government will reopen playgrounds and reinstate some types of in-home care, in a small easing of restrictions.
The changes will take place at 11.59 on Thursday 2 September.
Playgrounds will be for children under 12 with only one parent or carer, and adults should not remove their masks to eat or drink. Playgrounds will also have QR codes for checking in.
In-home care – like babysitters – will also be expanded to school aged children but only if both parents are authorised workers.
The easing came as Victoria recorded its highest case numbers this time last year, in the tail end of the long second wave.
Victoria recorded 120 new Covid cases on Wednesday 1 September, and two deaths.
The rolling back of things like the curfew and five kilometre limit, which had been widely predicted, did not come to pass.
High levels of community transmission, along with the high number of unlinked cases, served to scuttle those hopes.
Speaking to media on Wednesday 1 September, Premier Daniel Andrews said the health advice provided to the government had changed “fundamentally” over the past day.
“We will not see these case numbers go down; they are going to go up,” Mr Andrews said, adding that the key variables were “by how many and how fast”.
He said Victoria needed to suppress its case numbers as far as possible to buy the healthcare system time while Victorians get vaccinated.
The government has set a target of 23 September for a wider reopening, provided 70 per cent of Victorians have had at least their first dose by that date.
He predicted a difficult and challenging time over the coming weeks.
Once the 70 per cent milestone is reached, Mr Andrews said a number of further changes would be made.
At that point, the five kilometre radius will expand to 10 kilometres for exercise and shopping.
If there are no shops in your 10km radius, you’ll be able to travel to the ones closest to you.
Victorians will be able to exercise for an extra hour, for up to three hours per day.
Outdoor personal training will be allowed with up to two people plus the trainer and outdoor communal gym equipment and skateparks will reopen.
Private inspections of unoccupied premises for a new purchase or end of lease will be permitted but only one household may attend at a time, with the agent staying outdoors during the inspection.
Victoria’s construction workforce will also be able to increase to 50 per cent when 90 per cent of their workers have received at least one vaccine dose, subject to epidemiology at the time.
Up to five staff will be able to work onsite at entertainment venues to broadcast performances.
And in good news for the regions, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said restrictions for regional Victoria would be reconsidered over the next week, and possibly eased depending on the epidemiological advice.
The GAT has been confirmed for Tuesday 5 October, and from Tuesday 7 September until Friday 17 September a priority vaccination program will be put in place for students sitting year 12 exams this year.
These students and their teachers and examiners will be given priority booking access at state-run vaccination clinics.
Students and teachers will be able to book one of these priority appointments from Monday 6 September.
The Department of Health and the Department of Education will work directly with schools, and students and parents will receive the advice on how to arrange a booking through their schools.
The premier urged people to book in for their vaccines as soon as possible and not to wait for Pfizer to become available.
“The best vaccine is the one you can access today,” he said.
Mr Sutton said there was “light at the end of the tunnel”.
“Despite extraordinary efforts … we are still seeing a slow and steady increase,” he said.
“We have to move as fast as we can to get highest possible vaccine coverage.”
