Festivals and live music venues will return to full capacity in Victoria once state hits 90% vaccination, so here's what you need to know.
Prepare for a wave of festival announcements. In a press conference delivered on Sunday, October 24, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews announced a raft of restrictions that will be lifted once the state hits 80 per cent and 90 per cent vaccination, with live music set to return uncapped once 90 per cent of Victorians are fully vaccinated… FINALLY.
Andrews confirmed that the state is due to hit 80 per cent fully vaxxed this week, with restrictions lifting this Friday, November 29. At this point, regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne will become one, with everyone in Victoria guided by the same restrictions.
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For live music, in accordance with an updated COVID roadmap, music venues will be able to reopen for non-seated indoor entertainment subject to a density quotient of one person every four square metres. Events – such as music festivals – will be able to host up to 5,000 attendees, subject to any restrictions related to the venue. The Chief Health Officer may also grant an approval for larger crowds for significant events and venues under the Public Events Framework.
Once that threshold is reached which is expected to be around November 24 (subject to change depending on the rate of vaccination), venues can host events at maximum capacity, and festivals and large-scale events can also proceed without attendee caps or density quotients for fully vaccinated individuals. State-approved events will just need to have a one-off approval by the government of the operator’s COVIDSafe plan.
There will also be no limits to the number of people allowed to gather in households or outdoors, and masks will not be required indoors or outdoors, except in high-risk or low-vaccinated settings where social distancing is difficult (such as public transport, prisons, hospitals or aged care facilities).
These changes will only be available for fully vaccinated Victorians.
“We made a deal with the Victorian community – we asked them to get vaccinated and promised that when they did, we would open up and begin to live alongside the virus. Today we are delivering on that promise,” Andrews said.
“Victorians have met this challenge beyond any of our expectations and these vaccination rates are an incredible achievement. We’re on our way to being one of the most vaccinated – and therefore one of the safest – places in the entire world.”
You can read the Premier’s announcement here.
