Clinical guidance and resources - COVID-19

• Pharmacotherapy services: information for prescribers and dispensers of medically assisted treatment for opioid dependence – 11 April 2020 (PDF)
• Checklist for assessing appropriateness of take-away doses to support continuity of pharmacotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic – 11 April 2020 (PDF)
• Guidance for supplying methadone and buprenorphine (+/- naloxone) dose(s) to a third party in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic – 11 April 2020 (PDF)
• COVID-19 Alcohol and other drug services - residential guidance (Word)
• Alcohol and other drug group counselling during COVID-19 (Word)
• COVID-19 Response: Alcohol and other drug services (Word)

Please refer to advice on the Aged care sector coronavirus (COVID-19) page.

• Clinical practice guideline: Victorian pathways for COVID-19 positive children
• Clinical practice guideline: coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Clinical practice guideline: coronavirus (COVID-19) swabbing
• Clinical practice guideline: Distraction techniques for COVID-19 swabbing
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) paediatric guideline pre-operative testing (PPT)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) paediatric checklist pre-operative - 3 December 2020 (Word)
• Respiratory support for children during the coronavirus - 22 December 2020 (Word)
• Clinical practice guideline: Resuscitation - Hospital management of cardiopulmonary arrest coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Alert: Paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome
• Community resources for families
• Managing illness in schools and early childhood education and care services
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) consumer factsheet for paediatric surgery 17 July 2020 (Word)

• Coronavirus (COVID-19) Guidance physical distancing in health services - November 2020 (Word)

• Maternal and child health COVID-10 guidance - post pandemic declaration
• Babies born to COVID-19 positive mothers in capability levels 3-5 streaming maternity and neonatal services
• COVID-19 positive care of women during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period
• Neonatal care where mother is COVID-19 suspected or positive
• Neonatal resuscitation in suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19

The Medical exemption to COVID-19 vaccination guidance (Word) can be used to assist with patient consultation, education and clinical decision making when assessing a person’s eligibility for a medical exemption to COVID-19 vaccination. As per the instructions within, this form is not intended to be used as evidence of COVID-19 vaccination exemption.

• Intensive mental health community care guidelines - 22 April 2020 (PDF)
• Framework and guidance for mental health care during COVID-19 - 5 May 2020 (PDF)
• Home Visits and Community Clinics Depot Administration - 26 May 2020 (PDF)
• COVID-19 Guidance for planning mental health workforce responses in recovery and outbreaks (Word)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) Supported Residential Services and shared accommodation – mental health preparedness and outbreak response (Word)
• Mental health COVID-19 surge team guidance (Word)

Some settings and groups are disproportionately affected by adverse health outcomes. Outbreaks in some groups can have a disproportionate effect on the community, including the provision of essential services, and these are therefore prioritised for public health management.

Higher prevalence groups and settings

A patient is considered higher risk for COVID-19 if, for example, they present with acute respiratory tract infection or they are a resident in an aged care facility where there is an exposure.

Settings with high risk of transmission

Once a confirmed case of COVID-19 occurs in these settings, the risk of rapid transmission is high.

Places where people reside in groups, for example:

• aged care facilities
• military residential settings
• boarding schools
• boarding houses
• homeless shelters
• correctional facilities
• remote industrial sites with accommodation
• Aboriginal rural and remote communities
• high-density residential buildings.

Workplace settings where large-scale amplification is more likely, for example:

• schools
• abattoirs
• other low-temperature food processing, storage and supply chain facilities
• hotel quarantine
• healthcare services
• aged care facilities
• workplaces with highly casualised or mobile workforces.

People who are most at risk of severe illness

People in the community who are most at risk of severe illness from COVID-19, including:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 50 years and older with one or more chronic medical conditions
• people 65 years and older with chronic medical conditions
• people 70 years and older
• people with compromised immune systems.

The following chronic conditions are of concern in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over 50 years and vulnerable workers over 65 years:

• chronic renal failure
• coronary heart disease or congestive cardiac failure
• chronic lung disease (severe asthma for which frequent medical consultations or the use of multiple medications is required, cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, suppurative lung disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic emphysema)
• poorly controlled diabetes
• poorly controlled hypertension.

People with compromised immune systems, including those who:

• have haematological neoplasms: leukemias, lymphomas, myelodysplastic syndromes
• are post-transplant: solid organ (on immunosuppressive therapy), haematopoietic stem cell transplant (within 24 months or on treatment for graft versus host disease)
• are immunocompromised due to primary or acquired immunodeficiency (including HIV infection)
• are currently undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy
• receive high-dose corticosteroids (≥20 mg of prednisone per day, or equivalent) for ≥14 days
• receive all biologics and most disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) as defined as follows:
  • azathioprine >3.0 mg/kg/day
  • 6-mercaptopurine >1.5 mg/kg/day
  • methotrexate >0.4 mg/kg/week
  • prednisone >20 mg/day
  • tacrolimus (any dose)
  • cyclosporine (any dose)
  • cyclophosphamide (any dose)
  • mycophenolate (any dose)
  • combination (multiple) DMARDs irrespective of dose.

Critical workforces and other priority settings and groups

COVID-19 can have a disproportionate effect in critical workforces in essential services, such as:

• emergency response
• law and order
• child protection workers and other social services
• food supply chain
• energy and water.

Other priority settings include:

• childcare centres
• disability day centres
• aged care day centres
• communities with a high proportion of culturally and linguistically diverse people
• people experiencing homelessness or housing instability
• remote communities.

• Pre-operative testing of elective and emergency surgery patients – FAQs for healthcare workers - 2 December 2020 (Word)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) consumer factsheet for elective surgery testing - 4 December 2020 (Word)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) Factsheet - What do I need to know before I have elective surgery? - 2 December 2020 (Word)

For surgery information relating to maternity and newborn, please see the maternity and newborn tab. For surgery information relating to children, please see the child and family health tab.