NSW Covid close contact rule change will save Christmas for thousands of families

Thousands of NSW residents will no longer have their Christmas ruined by being forced to self-isolate after being a close contact of a Covid case. 

Premier Dominic Perrottet said close contacts would be redefined as household contacts or those who have spent a significant time in the house.  

These include ‘household-like’ contacts like boyfriends and girlfriends who stay overnight or spend a lot of time in their partner’s home.

NSW Health can also declare people exposed in specific other situations close contacts, such as where significant Covid transmission occurred.

NSW Health can also declare people exposed in specific other situations close contacts, such as where significant Covid transmission occurred (pictured, patrons at a Bondi cafe)

Super-spreader events like at The Argyle nightclub in Newcastle, where at least 150 caught the virus and all 780 who were there were declared close contacts, would be an example.

But others who would in the past have to stay locked away will only have to provide a negative Covid test to be able to attend holiday festivities.

That includes friends and family you caught up with and patrons or customers seated nearby who later test positive to Covid.

From today, those vaccinated close contacts will only have to isolate until they receive a negative PCR rest result.

Previously, household contacts of a positive case were required to get tested and isolate for a week, regardless of the result.  

‘A small change in relation to close contacts and the definition around that, that will be mainly focused in respect of households, so if you’re deemed to be a household contact, a close contact will be a member from your household,’ Mr Perrottet said. 

‘Kerry [Chant] will go into detail further about that because there may be occasions where NSW Health may determine outside of that definition that you would be a close contact.’

Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant (pictured) said residents would have to reach ‘a pretty high bar’ to be defined as a close contact by NSW Health

Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said residents would have to reach ‘a pretty high bar’ to be considered a close contact. 

Dr Chant added NSW Health is ‘streamlining the procedures’ and urged residents to ‘limit their activities’ as Omicron threatens to wreak havoc in the community. 

On Wednesday NSW lifted rules surrounding masks and QR check-in codes with face coverings only mandatory on public transport and in planes and airports.

When asked why the rules were lifted amid a spike in cases, Dr Chant said from a ‘public health position’, she strongly recommended people continue wearing masks.

‘My clear advice is that in indoor settings people should be wearing masks, I feel personally it does reduce the risk and gives a lot of people comfort as they move around,’ she said.

NSW recorded 1,360 cases on Wednesday, marking the first time in months the state has seen more than a thousand new infections in a single day. 

The last time NSW’s daily case numbers were this high was on September 11, when 1,599 new cases were detected.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard issued a grim warning to residents that cases would only continue to soar, estimating 25,000 daily infections in January.  

NSW has lifted rules surrounding masks and QR check-in codes with face coverings only mandatory on public transport and in planes and airports (pictured, people at Sydney Airport)