COVID-19 updates: RATs for veterinarians and Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry update

21 Jan 2022

Things continue to be challenging, with many states not recognising all veterinary services as being highly impacted by COVID, therefore preventing asymptomatic close contacts from returning to work. 

We continue to communicate to the state governments that all veterinary services are highly impacted by COVID-19. However, with the exception of Victoria, there have not yet been adjustments to state public health orders to reflect this. The majority of public health orders (with the exception of Victoria)  observe that veterinary teams involved in agriculture and biosecurity are highly impacted, however, this is not extended to veterinary teams providing services to companion animals. 

The AVA has put out a media release highlighting this issue, which has been picked up by the media both digitally and on radio. Social media around the challenges associated with COVID have also been well received.  Having your feedback from the survey has been an important factor in this issue getting some traction in all of the COVID-related media noise, so thank you. 

In other COVID-related news, the AVA is liaising with and providing letters of support to all veterinary wholesalers to assist in increasing the priority of veterinary wholesalers to secure RAT tests nationwide, which will then be distributed through the usual veterinary supply chain to veterinary hospitals.  In most areas of Australia, the lack of availability of RAT tests has been identified as a significant barrier in allowing veterinary staff to return to work to address COVID-related workforce shortages.  

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry update

The information below contains information relevant to veterinary businesses provided by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, of which the AVA is a member and is a summary of major COVID announcements over the last week.

National Cabinet Key Updates  20th January

  • National Cabinet agreed yesterday to retain the current arrangements for isolation ‘exemptions’ to close contacts in those essential workforces agreed last week. The rationale for this was to get the right balance between getting people back to work and not over stressing the hospital system which is already under a lot of stress.  
  • The federally approved isolation period for positive cases remains seven days. 

Summary document of National, State and Territory definitions and rules  

Please find a summary document prepared for members which provides a summary of the following for each state and territory: 

  • Rapid Antigen Reporting by jurisdiction 
  • Close Contact Definitions -  by jurisdiction 
  • Close Contact Isolation Requirements -  by jurisdiction 
  • Interstate Travel and Quarantine Restrictions 
  • State-Specific Business Restrictions

Omicron Update from Deputy CMO Professor Kidd  

Deputy Chief Medical Office Professor Michael Kidd provided a brief update on the Omicron situation in Australia and answered a number of questions from members covering RATs, booster vaccines, future planning and other topics.  

See a summary of the questions and answers here. 

The AVA HR service has put together a series of resources to help you with managing workplace requirements. To access the AVA HR service's learning videos (including advice on COVID-19), click here. 

Latest information on COVID-19 is available at the AVA's COVID-19 Hub.

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