Friday 30 September 2022 06:44 AM Covid-19 isolation rules: Burnet Institute director Brendan Crabb slams rules ... trends now

An infectious diseases expert has slammed the 'ill-informed' decision to scrap Covid-19 isolation rules - describing the announcement as a disappointing, disturbing and dark day for Australia.

National Cabinet met on Friday where premiers, chief ministers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to ditch mandatory Covid-19 isolation rules from October 14. 

Isolation rules will remain for aged care and hospital workers struck down with Covid, but the decision of how long to stay away from the workplace will now be one for most Australians to decide for themselves.

Burnet Institute director Professor Brendan Crabb conceded Australians are now more immune to the disease thanks to vaccines and exposure to the virus. 

But he believes it's too soon to ditch isolation rules following a winter wave of Covid, which he says is still 40-50 times worse than the flu.

'It's a disappointing, pretty dark day actually. It's illogical and ill-informed and for me I find it distressing,' Professor Crabb told ABC on Friday.

'It's true we're much more immune but we just had our worst wave in July and August. 

'We had far more deaths and much more hospitalisations than earlier in the year.'

'This notion that Covid is like the flu is just wildly wrong. It's 40 or 50 times worse than the flu for severe outcomes.' 

'It's a different infection, it's an infection of the organs in your body or your heart and of your brain and of your blood vessels and it's leaving this long Covid burden that is possibly worse than the acute burden.'

Isolation rules were one of the last restrictions Australia had in place and is little cost if there's low Covid, according to Professor Crabb.

'One of the reasons given for scrapping it is this there's less Covid around at the moment,' he said.

'So why not keep it? Because there's less cost with it and, of course, it helps knock the top off the next wave. So it's a bizarre decision.'

He believes seven days should be 'realistically' the minimum isolation period as he issued a dire warning that another Covid wave will soon hit Australia. 

'We're very much are going to have more viruses as a result,' Professor Crabb said.

'The whittling down of not just of the isolation period but of other Covid measures such mandatory masks and flattening of the vaccination curves have contributed to why we had worse Covid in July and August.'

'What's also really happening is very rapid evolution of this virus itself and the next wave has started in Europe and will follow here soon after.'

Up to 25,000 Australians will die this year 'because of Covid' who would have otherwise lived, according to Professor Crabb.

'(That is) a good 15 per cent increase on our normal death rate … I didn't hear that really stressed today and that's one of the really distressing things,' he said.

'It's a terrible epidemic that's going on at the moment. It's nothing like any other respiratory disease and I find that just quite a disingenuous line of discussion.'

Professor Crabb said aged care facilities will have no choice but to step up measures to protect the elderly.

'They'll have to because the community is not going to do it for them,' he said.

'They have to be more careful because the community is not going to do it for them. 

'That's the big failing, it's all of our duty to protect the most vulnerable in our community.'

Professor Crabb wasn't the only high profile expert slamming the ditched rules.

Victoria's chief health officer Brett Sutton tweeted before the decision: 'Sleepwalking into Covid is not a strategy I would recommend. Still much remains uncertain.'

Australia is the latest country to join ranks with other nations around the world that have ditched Covid isolation including the UK and Switzerland.

Pandemic disaster leave payments will also be scrapped on the same date with the exception of people in 'high risk settings'.