When Victoria should scrap its household contact isolation rules

As household contact rules lock down tens of thousands of Victorians, epidemiologists weigh in on when the rigid isolation protocols should be axed.

Epidemiologists say a rethink of Victoria’s rigid isolation rules for household contacts should be on the cards, as thousands of parents and children have been forced miss work and school.

The rigid rules mean household contacts of a positive case must quarantine for seven days, regardless of whether they contract Covid.

It comes as Opposition Leader Matthew Guy on Tuesday called for changes to the household contact rules after being forced to isolate in the wake of his son’s positive Covid test.

Mr Guy said half the state was trapped in “a semi-lockdown” as a result of the safety protocols, with fears businesses wouldn’t be able to operate of the Easter holidays due to staff shortages.

Deakin University epidemiology chair Professor Catherine Bennett said there was “definitely room to modify the rules” where a household contact has already had Covid.

Deakin University epidemiology chair Professor Catherine Bennett says there’s ‘room to modify the rules’.

“The reality is, the home is the most likely place you’ll catch Covid but the actual risk (of catching it) is changing,” she said.

“If adults have had their booster, the risk is reduced by 50 per cent. And if you’ve already had the virus – and a booster – the chances of getting it again are very low.

“There’s definitely room to modify the rules for the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve had the virus.”

Prof Bennett said the strict rules could also be deterring people from getting tested or reporting their positive results.

“At the moment it’s a one-size-fits-all approach and it’s done on trust, it’s not policed,” she said.

“The reality is that there will be people who don’t test or don’t report because they don’t want their households put into isolation.

“It could be that this imposte on people means they don’t report positive results.”

Prof Bennett said detailed data was needed to determine whether household contact isolation was helping stop the spread or not, including data about how many people had caught Covid from someone they live with.

She said data out of Denmark showed that only one in 1000 people had caught Covid a second time, and only a quarter of those had contracted the BA.2 Omicron variant after previously testing positive to the BA.1 variant.

“I’d love to see the data of those close contacts (in Victoria and Australia) who got it to see if (isolation) is cutting the risk or not,” she said.

“We can’t ignore that (staff shortages and kids missing school) is a construct of our mitigation structures – we need to weigh up those risks against the gain of keeping close contacts in isolation.

Epidemiologist and public health specialist Professor Tony Blakely says ‘now is not the time’ to relax close contact isolation rules.

But Melbourne University epidemiologist and public health specialist Tony Blakely said now was “not the time” to ease off on the household contact rule.

“The BA.2 Omicron variant is creeping on up at the moment, so the next two to three weeks is not the time to release more restrictions,” he said.

“Once that passes through, which I think will be in about three weeks, then we can start looking at removing things like that.”

Professor Blakely said Australia was behind countries such as Spain, which had already withstood the BA.2 wave.

“They’ve pivoted to living with Covid as though it’s the flu – there’s not even mandatory isolation for positive cases (with only mild symptoms or none at all).

“But in terms of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and Australasia, those half-close contacts (i.e. those people who live in the same house but don’t share beds) could possibly be let out if they’re asymptomatic but my personal view is that until we’re past this second bump of Omicron, we shouldn’t be relaxing any more restrictions.”

Meanwhile, Mr Guy said if close contacts who test negative and are symptom-free should “get on with life”.

“I just don’t see why in Victoria we’ve got thousands of people sitting at home who are constantly reporting negative tests and yet they’re sitting at home,” he said.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy says close contacts who test negative should ‘get on with life’. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“We’ll never get on with our lives, we’ll never recover and rebuild if we have laws that say just because you live with someone who is unwell, you’re going to isolate forever. That’s just not common sense.”

Herald Sun readers took to Facebook to express their views on the rules, with most calling for a “common sense” approach.

“If you’re sick, stay home, if not, go about your day,” one woman wrote.

“If you have a positive case in the house you should test every day and continue on with your life,” another said.

One man wrote: “The isolation rules are a disincentive to test. Why would I want to test myself if being positive means the whole household has to isolate for a week? We’ve lost two years of our lives pointlessly hiding away from this virus. No more”.

But others said seven days in isolation was a small price to pay to stop the spread.

“It’s just seven days and helps reduce ongoing transmission,” one woman wrote.

One man said: “This is a non-argument. Stay home and isolate. How selfish are people to even consider not staying home?”

“If one person gets sick with something contagious in a household it usually runs its course through everybody in that household then it’s done. Why let people from a household with a positive Covid case go on about their day to spread it in the community? Just keep it at home,” another woman wrote.

Originally published as When Victoria should scrap its household contact isolation rules