unvaccinated people could be locked out of venues when jab targets met

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unvaccinated people could be locked out of venues when jab targets met

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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... argets-met

Victoria Covid update: unvaccinated people could be locked out of venues when jab targets met
Daniel Andrews flags more freedoms once 70% single-shot target is reached, after Victoria clocked another 208 local Covid cases
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Daniel Andrews has warned that unvaccinated Victorians may be “locked out” of venues and events when the state reaches its targets for reopening.

“When we get to those [70 and 80%] vaccination double-dose thresholds … the notion of a lockout of the whole community is far less relevant,” the Victorian premier said on Friday.

“What will become a bigger part of our response is a lockout of many venues for those who are not vaccinated.

“I am not going to lock the whole state down to protect people who would not protect themselves. If you are not vaccinated, and you could be, the chances of you booking a ticket at a sporting event, going to a pub … will be very limited.”

Andrews said “more changes” to restrictions would be announced, including the possibility of further freedoms outdoors, once 70% of Victorians had been administered a vaccine.

Victoria is more than halfway to its target of 1m jabs in five weeks, with 58.1% of eligible Victorians to have received their first dose.

“We are still obviously a number of days away from being at that milestone … of 70% single dose but … the quicker we get to 70%, the more vaccinations undertaken, the more we will be able to make those changes announced the other day,” Andrews said.

“Noting it was a modest list because it was considered safe by the chief health officer. But there may be things, like outdoors, which will be looked at.”

There were 208 locally acquired cases announced on Friday, and one case detected in hotel quarantine, with the source of 112 cases still under investigation. Health authorities did not confirmed how many cases had been in isolation throughout their infectious period.

There was one further Covid death, a man in his 60s from Altona North with an unknown vaccination status.

Just two further cases were detected in the regional city of Shepparton after 6,000 day-13 test results overnight, placing regional Victoria on track to ease restrictions from next week.

A home-based quarantine pilot in Victoria has been flagged as a way to get Victorians stranded in New South Wales back home with the use of technology and testing.

The Covid response commander, Jeroen Weimar, said he expected the Shepparton outbreak – currently sitting at 132 cases – would be extinguished in the coming days, but was concerned about workplace transmission in metropolitan Melbourne.

There is a growing outbreak in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, with 48 cases detected overnight, as well as positive wastewater testing in Melbourne’s south and south-east.

Twenty cases have been linked to a Box Hill construction centre and 17 positive cases detected in a St Kilda call centre.

“They are providing essential goods and services that keep everyone going, but if you are an employer, check your Covid-safe plan and make sure you’re doing everything you need to keep your workplace safe and your business safe because now we are at a level of transmission that you cannot trust people coming in are OK,” Weimar said.

“We need to ensure they come forward and get tested to minimise the risk of infection as the remaining workplaces open.”

There were 64 people being treated with Covid in hospital on Friday, including 60 people in intensive care and 11 on a ventilator. Just under a third of those hospitalised were aged under 40.

Victoria’s priority program to administer at least one Pfizer vaccine to all year 12s in the lead-up to final exams will begin from next Tuesday.

The program will run until 17 September, with a number of pop-up hubs to be established at existing schools.

There will be about 50,000 priority appointments for year 12s, to be made available from Monday 6 September.

“Schools will reach out to those senior students and have that discussion about making bookings,” Andrews said. “They will have priority access to appointments and priority treatment when they turn up at a state clinic.”

Andrews said testing and improving ventilation in classrooms would be key to reducing the risk of transmission when schools eventually opened up, as well as increasing outdoor learning spaces.

While the prospect of zero cases had been abandoned, Andrews said ongoing restrictions were needed to keep numbers as low as possible as vaccination rates improved.

“In some respect we have to try even harder and I know that Victorians are giving so much and I am deeply grateful and proud of that,” he said.

“We are going to see cases rise. This is undeniable, but we have to slow the rate of increase. We need to see them go up as modestly and slowly as possible.”

There are 50,000 AstraZeneca vaccine appointments available over the coming three weeks, after the wait time to be fully dosed with the vaccine was halved from 12 weeks to six.
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