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Victoria aged care sector angry at ‘bizarre’ decision to allow unvaccinated visitors in homes

The Victorian government has doubled-down on its refusal to mandate vaccinations for visitors to aged care facilities, an approach that breaks with other states and has angered the sector, which described it as “bizarre”.

It comes as Victoria eases Covid restrictions further on Friday, a day after it recorded 1,923 new locally acquired cases and 25 deaths – the state’s highest single-day death toll of the current outbreak.

On Thursday, the aged care sector criticised the state’s decision not to require vaccinations for visitors to aged care facilities, saying it was “bizarre that people need to have a vaccine to have a haircut, but not to visit a vulnerable population”.

Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA), the peak body for not-for-profit aged care providers, urged the Victorian government to “reconsider the position urgently”.

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But a government spokesperson told Guardian Australia on Thursday the rules were “proportionate” in balancing the transmission risk with the harm of social isolation to residents.

“With such high rates of community vaccination, high resident vaccination rates and mandatory vaccination for staff – these rules are proportionate in balancing the transmission risk with the effects of prolonged isolation on the health, wellbeing, and functionality of residents,” a spokesperson said.

Related: Australia’s aged care Covid rules mean my 103-year-old mother misses out on vital socialisation | Sandra Symons

The spokesperson said the rules were “continually reviewed” and could change, if public health advice changed.

The intention is for unvaccinated visitors to only have access to a person’s room or to outside spaces, not common areas. The state’s aged care workforce is 98% vaccinated and residents are 90% vaccinated.

Visits to aged care are still restricted. You can only visit an aged care facility for seven reasons. These are: providing care, if the resident is under 18 years of age, as a nominated mental health support person, as a nominated person of someone with dementia, as an interpreter, for work, or for end-of-life support.

Current restrictions allow two visitors at a time, they can be from separate households and there are no time limits.

Despite the high vaccination rates of staff and residents, the sector fears that the easing of restrictions will increase the virus’s circulation in the community and put aged care facilities at greater risk.

“Aged care homes are the frontline of the pandemic,” ACSA chief executive Paul Sadler said. “This is our most vulnerable group of people. Everyone who visits aged care should bring the protection of a vaccine with them.”

Since 11 October, NSW has required all visitors to have two doses of a vaccine at least 14 days prior to their visit to a facility.

An exception exists for up to two unvaccinated people to visit a resident for an “end of life visit”.

Similar rules exist in the Australian Capital Territory. All visitors to aged care facilities in the ACT must be fully vaccinated two weeks prior to their visit.

Visitors are required to show evidence of their vaccination, either through the online immunisation history statement or a Covid-19 digital certificate.

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Last month, aged care minister Richard Colbeck foreshadowed a plan to improve visitation to aged care facilities, using a combination of rapid antigen testing, face masks and social distancing.

“We can’t have them locked up for ever. It’s just not acceptable,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age.

“There will be circumstances, as they always have been, when access is restricted … but we’re dealing with something new, and we need to design the processes to deal with it.”