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Dear industry colleagues, Apologies for the longer than usual update as we move to open up our region tomorrow. In this email you will find information about density limits (no new information just a reminder), new industry COVID Safety Forums by sector, Visit Victoria’s new Travel Kind campaign and changes to the management of contacts of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the workplace. From Friday 29 October at 6:00pm, we welcome back our friends and family from Greater Melbourne as Victoria opens with more restrictions falling away. Metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria will be subject to the same state-wide settings under Phase C of the Roadmap: Delivering the National Plan. The new settings include eased density and capacity limits if workers and customers are fully vaccinated.If workers and customers are not fully vaccinated with two doses, or venues do not check vaccination status, premises in regional Victoria may be forced to close, or operate with reduced capacity limits. See below for the two main sectors Hospitality and Accommodation for a summary.
| Premises | Fully vaccinated – staff and patrons | Vaccination status unknown |
| Hospitality |
Masks can be removed to consume food and drink. |
Closed, except for take away. All hospitality workers must be fully vaccinated by 26 November 2021 if they are working on site, even if they are only providing takeaway, as part of mandatory vaccination requirements for select workers. |
| Accommodation | Bookings are subject to the private gathering limit and are permitted for:
Vaccination is strongly recommended for all guests. Density quotient of one person per four square metres applies to communal spaces indoors, and one person per two square metres outdoors. |
Only fully vaccinated guests can access spaces with vaccination requirements, such as swimming pools and restaurants. |
Small/Medium Business COVID Safety Forums As you know, we have requested sessions from Government on several concerns and issues that were raised recently in our industry survey. Government have a copy of these questions and I’m pleased to say we have just received advice regard to new COVID Safety Forums being conducted over the coming days, along with changes to the management of contacts of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the workplace. The first one is this afternoon.These sessions will be run by the Department of Health and the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions. These forums are targeted industry sector sessions.Each session will include:
The upcoming dates:
To register for these forums, click here. The registration form allows you to ask any specific questions which will be dealt with at the forums. Further sessions are planned for the coming weeks for markets (centre managers), shopping centres (centre managers), sports & fitness (indoors), sports & fitness (outdoors), and more. Travel KindAs our tourism and hospitality industry gears up to welcome Victorians back this weekend, Visit Victoria has launched the Travel Kind initiative which will remind Victorians to unwind and travel kind this summer. This was a joint initiative between VTIC, Regional Tourism Board and Visit Victoria.The campaign aims to remind Victorians to:
The initiative is rolling out with public relations, paid and owned media, and across Visit Victoria and partner channels, to spread the Travel Kind message across the state.We encourage you to access the travel kind Industry Toolkit, where you can download visual collateral to display in store and online. Assets include tailored point-of-sale posters by region, social media tiles, email signatures and more.We’re also asking all business to join our call to arms on World Kindness Day (Saturday, 13 November 2021) by posting a social media tile to your Facebook and Instagram pages and use the hashtag: #travelkind when posting on social media.Victoria changes the management of contacts of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the workplaceDue to high vaccination rates, Victoria is changing the management of contacts of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the workplace. Businesses can now use a risk-based approach that classifies workplace contacts along a risk scale. It takes into account the duration of the contact, mask-wearing and vaccination status. Isolation and testing requirements for contacts reflect their level of exposure risk. This change will result in fewer workers being furloughed across industry sectors, ensuring the continuity of supply chains and essential services, and advancing Victoria’s broader economic recovery as the state re-opens. All Victorian businesses can use the new risk-based approach. An information pack is available on what to do if you have a confirmed case in the workplace. Last week, the Victorian Government announced changes to how primary close contacts who are fully vaccinated are managed. Non-household primary close contacts (PCCs) who are fully vaccinated now only need to quarantine for seven days. Household and unvaccinated PCCs are still required to isolate for 14 days. PCCs required to isolate for seven days will need to return negative test results on day one and day six of their quarantine to be released. Tailored outbreak management may be required in some circumstances where significant transmission events have occurred.For more information go to confirmed case in the workplace or call the Business Victoria hotline on 13 22 15.I met with Steve on Tuesday, and I’m pleased to say he is recovering well and will be back to work at DMT later next week. I’II be staying on the assist with the handover and continue to manage the roll out of the industry development program.I truly wish you all the success possible for what promises to be a busy weekend and if you do have a flutter on the cup, good luck! Best wishes, Paul and the DMT teamActing CEO – DMT