The good news from the PM today was recognition that this is not about the “end” of COVID, but that we are ready for the next step in transitioning to sustainable proportionate responses that can take us safely into the future. 

This is about handing over from government rules-based approaches to embedded responses in our infection control and work safe practices, and that’s what we need for the long haul. 

We also heard that the close monitoring continues, not just to see any short-term impacts of any policy changes, but also any other future infectious disease challenges we may need to respond to COVID or otherwise.

There is a generally held assumption that the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, and we need to get back to “normal”, whatever that means. That assumption is highly dependent on your social or political viewpoint and your exact location on the planet earth.

From a scientific point of view, there is no evidence whatsoever that we are yet through the evolution and development of the virus, and the general lack of testing does not help us much with estimating true transmission rates and in many cases even disease prevalence.

Vaccination rates are also waning and therefore population immunity is steadily dropping. Hospitalisation rates are a good measure of the impact of the disease, and it is true that this has dropped substantially in many places, there is however no guarantee that this will continue as winter approaches in the northern hemisphere.

We now know fairly certainly that up to about 20% of people who have had COVID-19, often with only mild acute effects, will go on to suffer from Long COVID symptoms which can persist for years (I get letters in my inbox every day from people who are suffering and need advice).

These problems long term will cost billions or even trillions of dollars worldwide, because COVID acts as an inflammatory accelerant for existing sub-clinical pathologies that increase the chances of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and a range of neurological problems - these are now well-established facts based on studies on millions of people and published in top science and medicine journals.

The idea that COVID isolation can be dropped because the pandemic is behind us supports the erroneous conclusion that COVID-19 is a mild disease and there is nothing for us to worry about. COVID-19 is still a dangerous long-term health threat. Political wishful thinking and selective use of scientific data have been the cause of many of the world's COVID-related problems over the last couple of years - and even though the world has taken such a huge knock, it seems that the lessons will never be learned.

I am going to get my 5th vaccination soon (the one that is tuned for Omicron BA4 and BA5 sub-variants) not because I am worried about BA4/5 per se, but because I don’t know what BA6, 7 and 8 will do to me if and when they appear.

I think it is a bit of a premature decision, though it was expected due to community and financial pressure on the government. Eventually we have to live with COVID, but we should understand that the pandemic is not over yet and new strains are still emerging and people are dying.

Although vaccination rates are good in Australia, still we cannot say that overall COVID mortality is comparable to seasonal respiratory infections. One option could be to implement this decision in a phased manner. For example, you may still keep mandatory isolation and reporting in aged care and health care facilities and in some other high-risk settings to protect vulnerable groups

The fact that Australians will no longer have to isolate after testing positive to COVID is a significant milestone in our pandemic journey. For many months now, when it comes to COVID, we have been transitioning out of the public health emergency response phase to treating COVID more like the way we treat other respiratory infections, which brings us into line with a number of other countries.

This shift in isolation requirements reflects a fundamental change in the risk calculus when it comes to the threat that COVID poses in the general population. This shift has occurred because of the high level of immunity in the population, which is a result of a combination of vaccination and infection. It is notable and important that isolation requirements will remain for high-risk settings such as aged care and hospital workers, which is also consistent with following a risk-based approach in our response to COVID.

Whether this is the right time to make this change, and whether this can be seen as marking the end of the pandemic in Australia is no doubt going to be fiercely debated over the coming weeks. What is important to recognise, however, is that the removal of isolation requirements and the winding back of emergency measures does not equate to ignoring COVID, and we should continue to respond to COVID as we do other infectious diseases that are a threat to public health. This needs to include a strong focus on prevention as well as control strategies.

As we’ve seen many times since 2020, things can change quickly when it comes to COVID, and we will need to ensure we do not drop our guard and that we respond appropriately and decisively should there be a change in the situation.

We still need to practice good infection control for COVID and other respiratory diseases