COVIDSafe Summer

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• Personal Safety
• Safer Communities

Thursday, 31st December 2020

Victoria moved to COVIDSafe Summer restrictions from 11:59pm on Sunday 6 December 2020. These restrictions are expected to be in place for summer. The restrictions will be reviewed regularly to ensure they reflect current public health advice.

These changes reflect the need to give Victorians certainty about their summer, while protecting the trend of low cases that Victorians have worked so hard to achieve.

To protect this hard work, we must follow COVIDSafe Summer restrictions:

From 11.59pm, Sunday 17 January 2021, face masks will continue to be mandatory in the following locations:

• on public transport
• when riding in a ride share or taxi
• inside supermarkets
• in large retail stores (over 2000 sqm), such as department stores, electronics stores, furniture stores or hardware stores
• inside shopping centres, including the retail stores inside shopping centres, such as clothing stores
• inside indoor markets
• on domestic flights to and from Victoria
• at airports
• in hospitals
• when working in or visiting hospitals and care facilities

This means that:

• • You must carry a face mask with you at all times when you leave home.
  • Fitted?face masks?must be worn in some public indoor spaces?unless you have a lawful reason not to. Face masks continue to be mandatory on public transport and when in taxis or ride share vehicles.
  • Wearing a face mask is strongly recommended when you can’t keep 1.5 metres distance from other people.
  • You can have up to 15 visitors to your home per day. There is no limit on the number of households those people come from. Front and backyards are considered part of the home.
  • Up to 100 people can meet outdoors in a public place. There is no limit on the number of households those people come from.
  • Record keeping?continues to be an important tool for helping Victoria to stay safe and stay open. Businesses that are required to record the details of visitors should use electronic record keeping or QR codes. The Victorian Government has a?free QR code service.
  • Restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs can open for seated and unseated service. They must use electronic record keeping and apply the?two square metre rule?to ensure that customers have enough room to keep 1.5 metres between themselves and others. There are no other limits on the number of customers. Venues can have up to 25 people before the two square metre rule needs to be applied.
  • Weddings, funerals and religious gatherings can occur with no limits on the number of guests or attendees. To ensure people can keep 1.5 metres distance the venue must apply the?two square metre rule. If a service is conducted in a private home, the private gathering limit applies (15?visitors).?
  • Dance floors can reopen in bars and pubs as well as at weddings. The four-square metre rule must be applied to limit the number of people on the dance floor and there can only be up to 50 people on the dancefloor at one time, if space allows.
  • There are also changes to the number of people allowed at community facilities such as libraries, sporting facilities (such as gyms), and entertainment facilities (such as cinemas).

Visit the Victorian Government’s website (coronavirus.vic.gov.au) for more COVIDSafe Summer information.

Source: coronavirus.vic.gov.au

Source: Caitlin Fraser