Peter Gutwein,Premier
The health and safety of Tasmanians continues to be our number one priority as we work through the ongoing transition to living with COVID-19.
Whilst over the last 2 days we have seen a slight uptick in cases, this is not unexpected following the return of schools. As we have seen in other jurisdictions, where schools started two weeks ahead of Tasmanian schools, cases will trend down.
Importantly, school remains the best place for children to learn. The omicron virus is far milder, and hospitalisations remain steady, and far lower than anticipated.
As we have seen since we opened our borders, in many cases it is not the virus itself causing disruption, but the close contact quarantine requirements, particularly for families where, due to rolling cases, the quarantine timeframe can often extend beyond seven days.
With regard to close contact quarantine requirements, in line with changes to the national guidelines, the period of quarantine for a household close contact will change to reduce the chance that people quarantining as a close contact of a household case will have their quarantine extended because of another case in the household.
From this Friday 25 February at midnight, the quarantine period for a household contact will now be seven days from the date of the first household case – even if another case is diagnosed in the household during that period.
This means the household close contact can leave quarantine at the same time as the first positive case, provided they have no symptoms and have returned negative RATs during their quarantine period.
This is another important step in our transition to living with COVID-19, and returning to a more normal way of living into the future.
Additionally, from this Friday 25 February at midnight, there will no longer be any entry requirements for travellers to Tasmania, regardless of vaccination status.
This also means that displaying vaccination status to enter venues, such as pubs, clubs and events in Tasmania will no longer be required. However, vaccination remains mandatory for certain workplace settings where this is a condition of employment.
This change recognises Tasmania's high vaccination rate, the high vaccination rate across other jurisdictions and that maintaining arrival conditions for unvaccinated travellers is disproportionate to the risk.
These changes are more confirmation that Tasmania is returning to normal, and Tasmanians continue to do a fantastic job as we transition to living with COVID-19 and living with it just like we do with other respiratory diseases like the flu.
Please continue to do the little things to keep yourself safe, such as maintaining good hygiene, and keeping up your covid safe behaviours.
