WA’s COVID-19 restrictions will be eased from March 31 after Premier Mark McGowan said “Western Australia’s “soft landing through the Omicron wave is on track”.
From 12:01am next Thursday, WA will step down to Level 1 measures, which will include the following:
- masks will continue to be required indoors for adults and children in Year 3 and above, other than at home;
- 2sqm rule and a cap of 500 patrons (for two weeks only) for hospitality venues, nightclubs and convention/function centres;
- 2sqm rule for fitness and entertainment venues, galleries/museums, places of worship, hairdressers and beauty services;
- 75 per cent capacity for seated entertainment venues (forward facing), and major stadia;
- indoor home gatherings limited to 30 people; outdoor gatherings limited to 200 people (2sqm rule if at a home);
- proof of vaccination and contact registration to continue only at higher-risk venues; and
- Critical worker and school and childcare settings remain unchanged.
For more see www.wa.gov.au.
As of March 25, anyone who has recovered from COVID-19 will be exempt from being declared a close contact for the 12 weeks following their recovery — up from the current eight weeks — provided they do not have symptoms and are not immunocompromised.
The limit of two visitors will remain per resident per day to residential aged care and disability care facilities. There will also be no change to essential visitors allowed to hospitals (e.g. for compassionate reasons such as end of life, accompanying a child or patient with complex needs, birthing partner, carer of a person with a disability, chronic illness and frailty).
After four weeks of Level 2 restrictions, this is a welcome reprieve for businesses that have been managing a shifting COVID landscape for over two years. 
We have worked hard to secure necessary financial support for you to continue operations, and encourage you to apply for available assistance.
“With COVID-19 hospitalisations and ICU admissions lower than expected thanks to our world-leading vaccination rate,” the Premier said.
“Given this, we can now ease most Level 2 measures back to modified Level 1 measures after only four weeks — just as we had planned.
“WA has been fortunate enough to mitigate the need to move towards more severe and sustained long-term restrictions seen elsewhere in the country – like working from home mandates and implementing a broader four square metre rule, which would have been far worse for WA jobs and businesses.
“However, there is no doubt that some businesses have done it tough while Level 2 measures have been in place.”
The Government has announced support packages worth more than $420 million, with more than $1.7 billion committed to businesses since the beginning of the pandemic, McGowan said.
For resources and advice, see CCIWA’s COVID-19 Support Centre.
Our Employee Relations Advice Centre is also available to respond to your questions on (08) 9365 7660, or via [email protected].
