COVID Statement

Lifting of mandatory isolation requirements

The Victorian Government recently ended its pandemic declaration and removed the requirement for Victorians to isolate if they test positive to COVID-19.

In line with the Victorian Government, RMIT strongly recommends those who test positive to COVID-19 to recover at home for five days. Please do not return to campus until you are symptom free.  

For more information on what to do if you test postive to COVID, please visit Exposed to COVID.

14 September

Changes to COVID-19 isolation requirements 

The isolation requirements for those who test positive to COVID-19 have changed. 

If you don’t have any symptoms, you may be eligible to leave isolation on day five or six from the date you tested positive.

Please check the Victorian Government Coronavirus website to determine eligibility. 

Workers or students on placement in vulnerable settings, such as hospitals or residential aged care facilities, must not attend these settings for the complete seven days after testing positive, even if they were eligible to leave isolation early.

WIL students should contact their course coordinator for more information.

More information:  Victorian Government Coronavirus website. 

5 September 2022

Changes to contact tracing processes and building access 

With the peak of Victoria’s winter COVID wave behind us, and a high level of vaccination and safety compliance within our community, we are making some changes to our contact tracing and access protocols on campus.

The following changes come into effect on Monday 12 September.

Changes to contact tracing

RMIT will simplify its contact tracing arrangements and will no longer manage investigations and communications regarding exposures on campus centrally. 

Instead, in line with government requirements, and reflective of what is in practice at other Victorian universities, if you test positive to COVID-19, the obligation is on the staff member or student to inform their education facility (via our RMIT Public Health Team) and to advise any household, social and workplace contacts that they have spent time with they have tested positive. 

The RMIT Public Health Team is able to provide advice to staff and students about informing close contacts and can provide support as required.

More information on what to do if you test positive to COVID-19, and how to report your positive result to the RMIT Public Health Team, can be found on the Exposed to COVID page.

The RMIT Public Health Team will continue to publish reported positive cases on the Campus exposure sites page. It is the responsibility of all staff and students to regularly check this page.   

Changes to access requirements

As we are no longer actively contact tracing, there are changes to our access requirements.

From Monday 12 September, all turnstiles on campus will be removed and we will return to open access for main entrances and general areas of selected buildings.

These will be open to the public during core campus hours (07:30am - 6:30pm Monday to Friday).

For the safety and security of our community and facilities, there will still be some spaces on campus that require swipe card access.

This means all staff and students must continue to carry their RMIT student card at all times, to access areas that are swipe card access only 

Latest advice on face masks

In line with Victorian Government advice, RMIT strongly recommends all students and staff wear a mask:

• when working indoors, particularly where physical distancing cannot be maintained
• in lecture theatres, classrooms and learning spaces

Masks are mandatory in specialist teaching spaces and when completing activities where physical contact is unavoidable.

These include some nursing and allied health classes and consultations at the Bundoora Health Clinic and the City Myotherapy Clinic. 

Free masks are available to all students and students at Student Connect and reception points across our campuses.

Student Connect locations:

• City campus – Building 8, Level 4

• Brunswick campus – Building 514, Level 1

• Bundoora campus – Building 202, Level 2 

23 June 2022

Changes to vaccination requirements

With high vaccination rates among our staff and student population, our ability to manage cases of COVID-19 on campus, and a range of appropriate safety measures in place, RMIT can now begin to safely remove our vaccination requirements.

From Monday 4 July, students, staff and visitors will no longer be required to be vaccinated or hold a valid medical exemption to attend any RMIT campus for facility. Students, staff and visitors no longer need to show proof of vaccination to attend campus.  

We’re committed to providing a COVIDSafe learning and working environment. RMIT will continue to keep the following measures in place for Semester 2.

• All students must have an RMIT student card and have completed the COVIDSafe 2022 Training Module before attending campus. For more information or to complete these steps, go to Coming to campus – COVID protocols for students.
• Retaining swipe card access to all buildings and strongly encouraging everyone to join the RMIT WiFi network when on campus to aid contact tracing.
• Requirement to wear masks in selected specialist teaching spaces and where close or physical contact is unavoidable (we strongly encourage students and staff attending onsite study and work to wear a mask indoors and when you can’t physically distance).
• Managing all positive cases on campus through the RMIT Public Health team – including contact tracing and communications – to ensure we manage the risk of exposure as effectively as possible.
• Making free face masks and Rapid Antigen Tests more readily available for students and staff See the COVID FAQs page for more information.
• High-quality air ventilation, sanitising and cleaning aids, and frequent professional cleaning of high-touch areas.

Students attending Work Integrated Learning placements will need to comply with the requirements of their host, which may include masks or vaccination requirements.

We’ve heard from our students and learnt a lot over the last two years about how to best support you with your studies and goals as we navigated COVID-19. We know what activities thrive face-to-face and what makes sense online.

In 2022, the learning experience at RMIT will continue to be blended, so you can learn flexibly through digital content, enjoy many opportunities to interact with others and experience the amazing specialist equipment and spaces that RMIT has to offer.

As we continue to be disrupted by COVID-19, where necessary, some courses and programs will still have online class options so that students unable to come to campus can keep learning. If government advice no longer allows learning activities to take place on campus, you will also continue learning online or be offered an alternative option appropriate for your course.

For more information, go to Learning experience at RMIT.

Students and staff are encouraged to regularly visit the COVID-19 webpages for updates on our response.

For general public health advice, please visit the Department of Health website.

We will continue to provide information as it becomes available.