Covid Australia: Fully-vaccinated can AVOID NSW isolation even if they’ve had contact with infected

Fully-vaccinated people identified as close contacts of Covid cases in NSW will no longer need to self-isolate under planned changes to contact tracing policies, even if they’ve hugged or kissed an infected person. 

Updates to public health guidelines on September 28 show how clusters could be handled when NSW lifts restrictions as vaccine targets of 70 and 80 per cent are met. 

The amendments – which have not been finalised – reveal new ‘risk assessment’ protocols for retail, offices, pubs, cafes, universities, building sites and warehouses. 

Those who have had two doses of a Covid vaccine are set to be considered ‘low risk’ or ‘casual contacts’ even if they have direct contact with a confirmed Covid case.

Under current rules if a person is ‘pinged’ by NSW Health as having been a close contact of an infected person or been present at a close contact exposure site, they are required to self-quarantine for 14 days regardless of a test result. 

Fully-vaccinated residents in NSW would no longer be required to isolate if they are deems to close contact of a Covid case under planned changes to public health orders 

Under the new rules immunised people would be considered "casuak contacts" even if the have physical contact with a Covid infected person (pictured: Sydneysiders in September)

Under the new rules immunised people would be considered ‘casuak contacts’ even if the have physical contact with a Covid infected person (pictured: Sydneysiders in September) 

But under the new rules this would be waived for double-jabbed individuals at both outdoor and indoor venues even if they have physical contact with a confirmed case such as ‘shaking hands, hugging or kissing’. 

On Wednesday, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state’s measures for contact tracing when we hit vaccination milestones were now being worked out by health officials who would then provide the advice to government. 

‘When 70 or 80 per cent of your adult population is fully vaccinated, it does mean you deal with contact tracing differently,’ Ms Berejiklian said. 

‘You don’t have to be as cautious with close contacts, you don’t have to be as cautious with a whole range of things you deal with.

‘That applies to schools as well.

‘I want to make it clear that contact tracing, and the way we deal with positive cases for fully vaccinated people, will look a bit differently to what it does today.’ 

Sydney residents who are double-jabbed were recently allowed to gather in groups of five with the new rules meaning they won't be plunged into isolation if they interact with a Covid infected person (pictured: locals enjoy the warm weather in Sydney on September 19)

Sydney residents who are double-jabbed were recently allowed to gather in groups of five with the new rules meaning they won’t be plunged into isolation if they interact with a Covid infected person (pictured: locals enjoy the warm weather in Sydney on September 19) 

Under the new rules ‘casual contacts’ could have to do little more than take a cheap rapid antigen test at home each day for two weeks. 

The test kits are to be available across the country from November 1 and cost under $10. 

However, those with extended contact with a Covid case such as colleagues at a warehouse or factory or those in schools and aged care would still likely need to isolate.

The change in quarantine rules for fully immunised individuals would avoid a UK-style ‘pingdemic’ in which hundreds of thousands of people were told to self-isolate when the country began to lift restrictions. 

As more restrictions are eased when vaccine targets of 70 and 80 per cent are met the rule changes would prevent a "pingdemic" similar to the UK

As more restrictions are eased when vaccine targets of 70 and 80 per cent are met the rule changes would prevent a ‘pingdemic’ similar to the UK

A Sydneysider checking into a business

The NSW HEalth message sent to close contacts

Under the NSW Health QR code system (pictured) a person is ‘pinged’ if they have been to a venue where a confirmed Covid case visited 

So many people received messages on the NHS Covid track and trace app after contact with an infected person that supply-chains were disrupted and supermarkets left understaffed – resulting in bare shelves. 

Public transport routes were scrapped at short notice after drivers were told to isolate and garbage collection services paused. 

Hospitals were short-staffed, while pubs and cafes shut after whole teams of hospitality workers were ‘pinged’ at once. 

And hundreds of thousands of students had to miss classes. 

In one week in July, more than a million adults across the UK were told to isolate – 600,000 of which had been ‘pinged’ by the NHS Covid-19 app. 

An emergency plan to tackle the food supply network disruption was called a ‘disaster’ with businesses confused about the rules.

In the UK their "Freedom day" prompted an extraordinary onslaught of pings to people following the coronavirus rules still left in place

In the UK their ‘Freedom day’ prompted an extraordinary onslaught of pings to people following the coronavirus rules still left in place

A "pingdemic" when the UK began to open back up resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being told they needed to isolate which disrupted businesses like supermarkets (pictured)

A ‘pingdemic’ when the UK began to open back up resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being told they needed to isolate which disrupted businesses like supermarkets (pictured) 

Food industry leaders claimed they were unclear about about which workers would be allowed to skip isolation rules.

The UK government had bowed to growing pressure from the industry to allow a key-worker exemption for food supply chain workers.

Instead of being forced straight into isolation when ‘pinged’, food supply chain workers, along with a handful of other key workers, could instead take part in daily testing. 

Up to 10,000 staff from across 500 different sites qualified for the scheme with testing sites established at ‘crucial’ supermarket depots.

In the UK (pictured) store shelves were left bare after some businesses had no staff with whole groups plunged into quarantine

In the UK (pictured) store shelves were left bare after some businesses had no staff with whole groups plunged into quarantine 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk