Australia is considering taking a leaf out of the United States’ book and shortening the isolation period for people who test positive to COVID-19 in the new year.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, a federal government source who has opted to remain anonymous said that the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee was expected to report early next year, with talks that they would bring this up to the National Cabinet.
The Victorian Government has already cut down the isolation period for COVID-positive people from two weeks to 10 days last month, and NSW followed this direction last week.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard spoke of the fact that other ministers in his state were contemplating whether to further reduce the isolation time.
“I firmly believe it’s worthy of a strong consideration, but preferably it should be done in a national uniform approach through [the Health Protection Principal Committee],” he said.
“I am very aware the CDC has reduced the period of isolation. This is a proportionate risk environment that we’re in, and having periods of isolation that impinge on the economic capacity of business and individuals is very problematic.” He continued.
The United States Centre for Disease Control recommended earlier this week that the isolation time for COVID-positive people be reduced from 10 days to five for those who are asymptomatic. The U.K. government announced last week that people could leave isolation with a negative rapid antigen test after seven days.
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The CDC recommendation states that people who leave isolation early should wear a mask for a further five days after they come out of quarantine.
University of Melbourne epidemiologist Tony Blakely said people could be let out of isolation after five days with a rapid antigen test. Rapid antigen tests are better at detecting whether a person is infectious, as the PCR test may show a positive result even when the person is not infectious.
“If someone has COVID and they test negative on day five, let them go; there’s no point in keeping them in there,” he said. “In the world where we’re living with COVID, the marginal benefit of keeping people in isolation when they test negative is small.”
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