Biggest childcare provider’s huge mask move

Goodstart confirmed the move to NCA NewsWire on Friday after Victoria’s acting chief health officer Ben Cowie recently recommended that masks be required for staff working in early childhood services.

“Goodstart constantly reviews its Covid safe practices and growing case numbers, significantly increased sickness in our teams and the chief health officer’s strong recommendations to wear masks indoors all influenced our decision,” Goodstart said in a statement.

“Masks are now being worn by all our in-centre teams (unless they have a medical exemption or are teaching) and we’ve asked parents to also mask up during drop off and pick up.

“While none of us will be excited about the return to mask wearing, they are an important part of keeping our children, teams, and our families as safe as possible. This is especially important as children under five are generally not vaccinated against Covid.”

The childcare provider said it would review the mask mandate as soon as the health advice changed.

But its educators are exempt from the requirement if they are actively teaching and clear enunciation or visibility of their mouth is essential.

This means staff are allowed to remove their masks while teaching in order to support the oral language development of the children.

Vaccines are also still mandated for Goodstart staff.

It comes after Mr Cowie recommended that mask wearing requirements return in certain settings during a meeting with Victoria’s Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas earlier this month.

Documents that were released this week of Mr Cowie’s formal health advice showed early childhood staff were included in this recommendation.

“I acknowledge that face mask requirements are not universally supported in the community, and it is open to the minister to consider other means to achieve higher levels of mask use,” he said.

Ms Thomas revealed last week that she rejected Mr Cowie’s advice, with the government instead “strongly recommending” that masks be worn indoors and in crowded settings.

“The advice from the chief health officer was to mandate mask wearing in early childhood and school settings, and indeed in retail and in some hospitality settings for workers in those areas,” she said.

“I made a decision based on the advice that I had received that further mandating masks was not the most effective way to get the message out about the importance of mask wearing.

“We need to empower Victorians to make their own decisions.”

It comes after a letter signed by the heads of Victoria’s state, independent and Catholic education sectors was sent to parents on Monday night encouraging students to wear masks indoors.

“We are asking all students aged eight and over and all staff in all schools across Victoria to wear masks in class (except where removing a mask is necessary for clear communication) from now to the end of winter,” it read.

Originally published as Goodstart Early Learning staff required to wear masks in Victoria