diff --git a/chart/Chart.yaml b/chart/Chart.yaml
index 6e94763..67bc2b5 100644
--- a/chart/Chart.yaml
+++ b/chart/Chart.yaml
@@ -3,5 +3,5 @@ name: py-kube-downscaler
 description: A Helm chart for deploying py-kube-downscaler
 
 type: application
-version: 0.2.4
-appVersion: "24.7.1"
+version: 0.2.5
+appVersion: "24.8.0"
diff --git a/kube_downscaler/scaler.py b/kube_downscaler/scaler.py
index 23f4e1f..1e0612f 100644
--- a/kube_downscaler/scaler.py
+++ b/kube_downscaler/scaler.py
@@ -858,7 +858,7 @@ def autoscale_resource(
         if downtime_replicas_from_annotation is not None:
             downtime_replicas = downtime_replicas_from_annotation
 
-        if exclude and not original_replicas:
+        if exclude:
             logger.debug(
                 f"{resource.kind} {resource.namespace}/{resource.name} was excluded"
             )
diff --git a/tests/test_scaler.py b/tests/test_scaler.py
index ed8f01b..c5d8f93 100644
--- a/tests/test_scaler.py
+++ b/tests/test_scaler.py
@@ -518,8 +518,7 @@ def get(url, version, **kwargs):
         ORIGINAL_REPLICAS_ANNOTATION
     ]
 
-
-def test_scaler_upscale_on_exclude(monkeypatch):
+def test_scaler_no_upscale_on_exclude(monkeypatch):
     api = MagicMock()
     monkeypatch.setattr(
         "kube_downscaler.scaler.helper.get_kube_api", MagicMock(return_value=api)
@@ -575,18 +574,9 @@ def get(url, version, **kwargs):
         enable_events=False,
     )
 
-    assert api.patch.call_count == 1
-    assert api.patch.call_args[1]["url"] == "/deployments/deploy-1"
-    assert (
-        json.loads(api.patch.call_args[1]["data"])["spec"]["replicas"]
-        == ORIGINAL_REPLICAS
-    )
-    assert not json.loads(api.patch.call_args[1]["data"])["metadata"]["annotations"][
-        ORIGINAL_REPLICAS_ANNOTATION
-    ]
-
+    assert api.patch.call_count == 0
 
-def test_scaler_upscale_on_exclude_namespace(monkeypatch):
+def test_scaler_no_upscale_on_exclude_namespace(monkeypatch):
     api = MagicMock()
     monkeypatch.setattr(
         "kube_downscaler.scaler.helper.get_kube_api", MagicMock(return_value=api)
@@ -641,16 +631,7 @@ def get(url, version, **kwargs):
         enable_events=False,
     )
 
-    assert api.patch.call_count == 1
-    assert api.patch.call_args[1]["url"] == "/deployments/deploy-1"
-    assert (
-        json.loads(api.patch.call_args[1]["data"])["spec"]["replicas"]
-        == ORIGINAL_REPLICAS
-    )
-    assert not json.loads(api.patch.call_args[1]["data"])["metadata"]["annotations"][
-        ORIGINAL_REPLICAS_ANNOTATION
-    ]
-
+    assert api.patch.call_count == 0
 
 def test_scaler_always_upscale(monkeypatch):
     api = MagicMock()