The rule requiring Victorian workers to wear masks in the office is being reviewed by health officials this week in a move expected to lure staff back.
As the state marked its fifth day running of zero local cases, acting chief health officer Daniel O’Brien revealed authorities were considering changes to the mask rule.
Associate Professor O’Brien said the idea was being floated to spare office workers from having to wear masks if they weren’t in public-facing roles.
“We’re in discussions this week exactly on that point – to consider and assess the evidence,” he told reporters on Monday.
“The decision hasn’t been made yet. We’ll know that in a few more days.”
Last month, the state government eased restrictions to allow more people in metropolitan Melbourne to return to offices, with 75 per cent capacity, or 30 people in a workplace – whichever is greater.
However, under the state’s Covid rules, masks must still be worn inside.
Associate Professor O’Brien said Victoria is yet to eradicate the virus and wearing masks offered a “safety blanket”.
“We’re very close to stamping it all out, but we haven’t – we need a bit of time to make sure that there is still no circulating virus because it can take up to 14 days from the last case for something to appear, as we saw from the Wollert case just earlier on,” he said.
“We’ve seen over and over and over again through this epidemic that (masks) are really effective and they save us transmissions, which saves us from further restrictions.
“I know people don’t enjoy it, but just to remind everyone, they work and at the end of the day, they allow us the other freedoms to get on going.
“It’s really like a safety blanket to make sure that if there is virus out there, we’re not totally exposed and we’re in a really much more serious situation than we otherwise would be.”
Two new Covid-19 cases were recorded on Monday that were acquired from overseas.
There are 23 active cases in Victoria.
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