Susie O’Brien: Outdated isolation rules make Victoria the most locked-up state

Up to 100,000 Victorians are sitting at home for absolutely no reason as nonsensical isolation rules continue to strangle the state.

Victoria is not just the lockdown state, we’re also the locked-up state, with up to 100,000 people sitting at home for absolutely no reason.

Flawed, out-of-date and nonsensical isolation rules are strangling our state and hampering our recovery.

Why are healthy, vaccinated people who’ve tested negative isolating because of accidental, incidental contact with positive cases?

It’s ridiculous.

This is what happens when health bureaucrats take charge, rather than elected officials – decisions are made solely on the basis of narrow health advice, rather than the good of the people.

Our current rules governing positive cases are so strict that an entire workforce of hundreds of people is being sent home because of one fleeting positive case.

People who haven’t even had direct contact – or even been present at the time — are forced to down tools and go home for a fortnight.

Not only has this affected supermarkets, public transport, delivery services and thousands of small businesses, but GP clinics as well.

Elected officials like Premier Daniel Andrews must make decisions for the good of the people. Picture: Darrian Traynor

That’s right, medical centres — where there are rigid infection protocols and staff are not only vaccinated but wearing full PPE — are treated the same as any other setting.

The Melbourne surgeon, who was forced to cancel 48 operations after his child attended a site where there was a positive case, is a perfect example of this heavy-handed approach.

The child was not in the same areas as the infected worker, the family had all returned negative tests and the surgeon was fully vaccinated.

But that didn’t matter – the man was deemed a close contact and had to stop working for an entire fortnight in the middle of a health crisis.

It doesn’t help that people are often unable to contact the swamped health department and are left to do their own contract tracing.

They’re often texted by the department with instructions to shut up shop for 14 days then never hear anything again. Losses of up to $500,000 for small businesses are commonplace.

There are also cases of businesses spending $10,000 on deep cleans on day nine of their closures despite the fact this is an airborne virus.

No allowance is made for negative tests, vaccination status or the protective clothing — or for the fact that people mostly test positive within a few days, not 14 days.

Allowances should be made for fully vaccinated Victorians who have visited an exposure site. Picture: Ian Currie

The latest two-week construction closure is another example of the blunt-force approach to decision-making from the Andrews Government.

Large construction sites weren’t sticking to the rules, so what did they do? They sent home every single worker in the building, trades and maintenance industry – even those working by themselves outside who were fully compliant and vaccinated.

The government has now allowed supermarkets to test and isolate only staff with direct exposure to a positive case.

This approach is already being adopted in schools, and with four campuses already reporting positive cases among their students, it’s being tested already.

This new way should be adopted across the board, and not just for essential industries.

As cases in this state continue to soar and spread, we need a new approach that manages and minimises the impact of the virus while allowing us all to get back to work and get on with life.

Vaccination rates are also rising, justifying a new, less blanket treatment to casual contact.

With moves to stop publication of lower-risk exposure sites and reduce the quarantine period for vaccinated travellers, an overhaul of isolation protocols is urgently needed.

Site closures should be a last resort, not a first step, and businesses should be able to keep operating wherever possible.