Premier Daniel Andrews is “very keen” for Victoria to pare back its advice on working from home and says the government will lift the recommendation once it receives updated health advice approving an easing of COVID-19 pandemic settings.
With Victoria passing its winter Omicron peak and spring a day away, business groups and epidemiologists say the Andrews government should scrap working from home recommendations and encourage people to head back to the office.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and his NSW counterpart Dominic Perrottet on Tuesday.Credit:Justin McManus
However, a pandemic adviser to the nation’s chief health officers says the state cannot afford to lift a suite of pandemic orders at once and must halt winding back restrictions – including a recommendation to work from home – if it wants to cut the mandatory isolation period from seven to five days.
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee will meet before Wednesday’s national cabinet meeting to discuss reducing the period of isolation for COVID-19 positive cases.
Professor Allen Cheng, one of the country’s top infectious disease physicians and a member of the expert panel that advises the federal government, said the risk of winding back advice on working from home must be measured against other public advice such as face masks and isolation.
“There’s a lot of things that could be done and a lot of things that could be relaxed. But the question is really, which ones are the ones that are the pressure points for the community? The biggest economic cost?” he said.
Cheng said, for example, if there was a push to get people back to work due to economic benefits, then it might be wise to halt winding back restrictions on mask-wearing or opt against reducing isolation requirements during spring.
Victoria stopped short of issuing orders requiring people to work from home as COVID-19 cases began to surge in early July, but Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas requested employers “consider working from home arrangements that are most appropriate for their workplace”.
Andrews on Tuesday said pandemic rules, including mask mandates in schools and on public transport, would change when the health advice did.
“The time will come when that advice can change, a bit like returning to the office, I know that’s being constantly evaluated,” Andrews said.
Professor Allen Cheng says Victoria should halt lifting other restrictions if it wants workers to return to the office.Credit:Nicole Reed
“I was talking to some industry leaders yesterday, and they’re very keen, just as I am, to have the advice that says if you can work from home, work from home, off. As soon as it’s safe to do that, we will.”
Associate Professor James Trauer said the government should lift the vast majority of COVID-19 recommendations and orders, as the public health benefits of requiring people to work from home was minimal.
“The only restriction we should have in place is reducing transmission in really high-risk settings, such as hospitals and aged care,” Trauer said.
“We should now be focusing on biomedical interventions and not trying to reduce transmissions. We need to ensure we have enough vaccine coverage, which is still low, and also give people better access to antivirals.”
The head of the epidemiological modelling unit at Monash University said while it would be difficult to impose restrictions – or recommendations – after they had been pared back, it was imperative governments removed them as soon as they were able.
It was important, he said, to give the public confidence that authorities only issued orders when absolutely necessary and lifted them when no longer required.
Victoria recorded 2950 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, down from its peak of 14,312 cases on July 21. There are 337 coronavirus cases in hospital, with 14 active cases in intensive care, including five on a ventilator.
University of South Australia Biostatistics chair Professor Adrian Esterman said he was “fairly relaxed” about working from home restrictions being lifted in Victoria and shifting the responsibility to businesses.
“Cases are decreasing, hospitalisations are falling and deaths are very slowly coming down,” Esterman said.
Franchise Council of Australia chief executive Mary Aldred said the public service and big businesses should show leadership and compel their staff to return to the office.
“Like many social changes that play out in the workplace, large employers have the capacity to set the pace here, and they need to demonstrate some leadership,” she said.
“That will assist smaller businesses looking for a benchmark expectation of weekly office attendance, and be a huge boost to city retailers, tourism operators and hospitality businesses. Government departments need to step up here and show respect to the taxpayer by getting back to the office as well.”
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