Mark McGowan concedes Covid cases WILL eventually swamp Western Australia as he announces new rules for when the virus spins out of control
- WA Premier said state will ‘inevitably be in a higher caseload environment’
- Once more cases are recorded, positive people will isolate for seven days, not 14
- Definitions around close contacts will be changed and casual contacts scrapped
- Critical workers deemed close contacts can work if they provide negative RATs
Mark McGowan has sketched out new plans for what life will look like in Western Australia once Covid cases spin out of control.
Rules around contacts and isolation times will be changed once the Covid situation worsens, the WA Premier who has locked his state away from the rest of the country said on Friday afternoon.
‘At some point in the future we will inevitably be in a higher caseload environment,’ Mr McGowan said.
Once that higher caseload environment is seen, casual contacts will be scrapped and new definitions will be made for close contacts.
Mark McGowan has sketched out new plans for what life will look like in Western Australia once Covid cases spin out of control
Close contacts will be determined as someone who’s spent 15 minutes of face-to-face contact with a person while infected with Covid without wearing masks, and someone who spent time with an infected person for at least two hours in a small room without masks on.
Close contacts will also be intimate partners and household contacts of positive cases.
Those who test positive will also only have to isolate for seven days, instead of 14, with no test needed on the seventh day if symptoms are gone.
Close contacts will need to isolate for seven days with a negative RAT on day one and on the final day of isolation.
Mr McGowan said there wasn’t a specific number for what constitutes a high caseload environment.
He said it would be based on average daily case numbers, links between cases and how long these have been infectious in the community for.
Positive cases will only have to isolate for one week once the new changes come into effect (pictured in Perth)
‘Hopefully, it is weeks away,’ Mr McGowan said. ‘Under Omicron, spread of the virus is unavoidable.’
The premier added critical workers who were deemed close contacts could continue working if they provide negative rapid tests daily, and wear a mask and isolate.
‘Under these settings one case in a bar would not shut a bar. One case would likely not shut an office or a warehouse,’ Mr McGowan said.
‘We rebalance the risk for the situation we are in, providing certainty as much as we can in a very uncertain environment.’
Western Australia on Friday recorded nine new cases, two of which have not yet been linked to existing infections.
More to come
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