It comes as 11,176 new Covid cases were announced in Victoria on Wednesday, including 739 people in hospital and 36 in ICU.Another 20 deaths were also announced.Some private schools are also asking parents to wear masks on campus as schools battle growing outbreaks of Covid and flu infections.Such measures are being seen as a possible return to mask mandates by individual schools, with one leader calling it a sensible proactive measure.It comes as parents are receiving mixed messages, with the relaxation of rules allowing Covid-infected parents to drive their non-infectious children to school and pick them up.A spokeswoman from the Department of Education said the “current advice to schools is that face masks are recommended in indoor settings”.All schools have been supplied with a stock of N95 masks suitable for adults and older children; surgical masks for staff and students in secondary schools. Last term, there was little expectation that students or staff wore masks unless they were close contacts. Face masks, while recommended, were not required.Schools taking a stronger stand on mask-wearing include Carey Grammar, which wrote to parents on Tuesday advising them: “In the interests of maintaining the safest possible learning environment for all at school, we are strongly recommending all students Year 3 and above wear a mask in all indoor settings.”“We continue to have a large number of staff and students impacted by colds, the flu and Covid and think this is a prudent step for us to take to strongly encourage mask wearing whilst indoors at school,” principal Jonathan Walter said. “Can I please ask that parents also wear a mask when attending campuses in indoor settings?”Another expert pushes for mask mandateThe head of the Doherty Institute says the return of mask mandates should be considered, given the pressure surging Covid cases is having on hospitals.Ms Lewin, a leading infectious diseases expert who helped draw up last year’s road map out of lockdown, said she understood Australians were suffering Covid fatigue.But she said the pandemic was not over and governments should strongly consider reintroducing measures such as mask mandates for indoor settings if voluntary compliance around mask wearing does not increase.“Mandates should be considered,” Professor Lewin told ABC Radio National on Wednesday morning.“It worked very well previously, it won’t be for a long time.“Everyone should be aware that masks indoors when we have got this amount of Covid will be another additional help.”Professor Lewin also called on the government to “rethink” the move to phase out free RATs for concession card holders from August 1.“I am hoping they will reconsider this,” she said.“I understand the policy was laid down many months ago but we need to be flexible and pull out whatever we can do when cases surge as is happening now.”Prof Lewin said restrictions such as mask mandates would help hospitals from being overwhelmed during winter.“There is no question about that (the need for restrictions) as we see hospitalisations rise,” she said.“That (hospitalisations) have real knock-on effects for the whole community because of the restrictions that are going to happen to hospitals once we get too many people in hospitals.”The Department of Health has drawn up a four stage winter Covid plan that lays out the number of hospitalisations required to trigger new restrictions, such as cancelling hospital staff leave and elective surgeries.Stage 3 of the plan, to be triggered when the state passes 800 Covid hospitalisations, would trigger measures such as cancelling hospital leave and increasing telehealth care.Stage 4 of the plan, to be triggered when there are more than 1400 hospitalisations, would result in the government considering a code brown, which includes cancelling elective surgeries.The peak of hospitalisations was hit in mid-January when the state had 1229 people in hospital with Covid and close to 130 in ICU, resulting in a code brown.End of free RATs run draws fireThe Albanese government’s decision to not extend subsidised Rapid Antigen Tests for concession card holders despite rising Covid cases, has come under fire.Introduced in late January, the program entitled concession card holders to 10 free tests across three months and is scheduled to end on July 31.Chemist Warehouse director Mario Tascone said demand for subsidised tests last week was “as high as it has ever been” since the program launched. “Given the circumstances and the amount of Covid out in the community at this time, I find it a bit surprising,” he said. “If it made sense to have the program in February, it makes just as much sense to have it while we’re in a big wave now.”He said prices per test had dropped from about $10 in January to $8 now, but this was still expensive for many pensioners. “The over-70s, are the most at risk,” he said. NED-5250-Victoria’s Covid-19 statisticsCouncil for Older Australians chief executive Ian Yates said they were concerned about the impact of cost of living and will lobby the government to extend the subsidy through winter. Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the program was set up when it was “borderline impossible” to find RATS and they cost “close to $30”. “Prices have come down significantly,” he said. “The Morrison government and state governments designed this program to end on 31 July.”“I would encourage pensioners and concession cardholders to get their allocation of up to 10 tests before the end of this month. “After this, there are state and territory schemes available, along with free tests that continue to be offered in specific settings including aged care and schools.”It comes after the federal government’s Covid sick leave payment ended on June 30.Trade unions are demanding the Albanese government reinstate the $750 per week pandemic leave payments.Australian Manufacturing Workers‘ Union National Secretary Steve Murphy said the government needed to act on its promise to protect essential workers.Mixed reaction to minister’s admissionBusinesses on Tuesday welcomed the Victorian government’s decision to stay away from increased mask mandates, but critics have labelled the move as being about “politics, not health”. Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas on Tuesday revealed she rejected advice from the acting chief health officer Ben Cowie to extend mask mandates, instead urging employers to let staff work from home where appropriate.She also announced that people would now be exempt from testing and isolating four weeks after getting Covid, instead of 12 weeks, due to new evidence about new variants being able to evade immunity. “I have chosen not to extend mandates for mask-wearing in some of the settings that were recommended to me,” she said. “We need to empower Victorians to make their own decisions.” But Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said Ms Thomas’s refusal to implement health advice showed Labor was “all about politics” ahead of the November election.Covid Q&A“Instead of preparing our health system, Daniel Andrews is still playing political games with Covid,” he said.Australia’s former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said Victoria’s hospital crisis had been “years in the making” and there needed to be a greater focus on Covid patients needing ventilation rather than admissions.“I think the overall tally of people in hospital (with Covid) is not a good marker for burden of disease. It does present challenges to hospitals with infection control and bed flow and is definitely contributing to the current health system capacity issues,” he said.Australian Industry Group Victorian head Tim Piper welcomed the decision not to introduce mask mandates, as did Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Paul Guerra, who said it “puts the decision-making back on the individual and businesses”. Australian Medical Association Victoria president Roderick McRae said cutbacks to elective surgery were “extremely likely”, adding: “Things are very bad.”
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