Hotels for heroes: Victorian COVID-19 frontline accommodation scheme expanded

Victoria’s hotels for heroes program, providing government-funded accommodation to frontline workers who have been exposed to COVID-19, has been expanded.

Under the expansion, the scheme, which was already open to medical workers, will be opened up to police, firefighters who give emergency medical treatment, aged care workers, disability support workers and community-based pharmacy workers.

When announcing the expansion, Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said the numbers who access accommodation under the scheme are small, but it is a “really important” initiative.

“We’re talking small numbers, but we know that this workforce is at a much heightened risk of exposure to COVID-19, they are intimately engaged with the community,” Ms Neville said.

“Being able to acknowledge that they are at heightened risk and to provide them with a real alternative to putting at risk their family members … is really important.”

Currently, 82 health workers are staying in government-funded hotel rooms to avoid potentially exposing their own households to coronavirus.

Press PLAY below for the 3AW Mornings rundown of the announcement.