Changes regarding gastroenteritis outbreaks and exclusion periods

In March this year, the Department of Health and Humans Services [DHHS] updated the exclusion period for gastroenteritis.  The updated guidance requires infants, children, or staff in an early childhood service, who develop vomiting or diarrhoea to stay at home until at least 48 hours after their symptoms have stopped.

Guidance from DHHS is to use the exclusion table as per Schedule 7 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019 where one child is unwell. When more children are presenting with gastro illness or parents advising of illness, the 48-hour exclusion time frame applies and notification to the department that you may have a gastro outbreak at your service is required. Update from DHHS below. 

• Parents and carers are urged to keep young children at home if they are sick amid a rapid rise in outbreaks of viral gastroenteritis in Victorian childcare centres.
• Viral gastroenteritis is highly infectious. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, abdominal pain, headache and muscle aches, with more severe outcomes in the elderly and very young. Symptoms can take up to three days to develop and usually last between one or two days, sometimes longer.
• Washing hands with soap and water is one of the most effective ways of preventing the spread of infection. Alcohol-based hand sanitisers are not effective against many common viruses that cause gastroenteritis.
• Infants or children in childcare or school, as well as staff, who develop vomiting or diarrhoea should stay at home until at least 48 hours after their symptoms have stopped, since they will still be infectious. If symptoms are severe or they persist, or you are concerned, see a GP for advice and possible testing.
• Staff and parents should be vigilant for symptoms of gastroenteritis in children and reinforce basic hygiene measures.
• Cleaning and sanitising are also important infection control measures and facilities should follow relevant Department of Health guidelines.
• Anyone recovering from gastroenteritis should avoid visiting hospitals, childcare centres and aged care facilities to avoid spreading the infection to those most vulnerable. Any person living in a household with someone who has gastroenteritis should refrain from visiting these high-risk facilities until at least 48 hours after the last person in the household has recovered.