Tasmanian government implements changes to COVID-19 policies

The Tasmanian government has recently effected changes to its close contact and border entry requirements as the state announced that it is “[working] through the ongoing transition to living with COVID-19.”

Since midnight of 25 February, the state announced that there would no longer be entry requirements for Tasmania travelers, regardless of their vaccination status.

The state also said that displaying a person’s vaccination status to enter venues, such as pubs, clubs and events would no longer be required but it clarified that 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,” Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said in a media release.

Additionally, effective on the same date (25 February), the state announced that the quarantine period for a household contact would be seven days from the date of the first household case, even if another case is diagnosed in the household during that period.

Essentially, this means that 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.

“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,” Gutwein said.

“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.”

“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,” Gutwein added.