Australia’s Covid regime is still riddled with absurd rules and clauses keeping people off work and preventing them from getting on with life.
Two and a half years after the outbreak of the pandemic, illness and forced isolation are costly NSW $1 billion a year alone, taking a toll on families and businesses.
Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet has calculated this economic strain as thousands are thrown into isolation by a winter omicron Increase – 39,046 on Sunday alone.
Other rules make life miserable for anyone with a runny nose when they least expect it, while opaque procedures inflate statistics used to justify restrictions.
Australia’s Covid regime is still riddled with intrusive rules and clauses that keep people from working and preventing them from getting on with life
Absences from work are expected to skyrocket by two-thirds due to the double whammy of expanded isolation rules and the shortening of the reinfection window
Australians now face the prospect of spending two weeks out of six of their lives in isolation, while not only would those sick with the flu not have to stay at home at all, they would also not receive government help if they were too ill to work.
Absences from work are expected to skyrocket by two-thirds due to the double whammy of expanded isolation rules and the shortening of the reinfection window.
The reinfection time was reduced from 12 weeks to 28 days on the advice of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee.
Australians who test positive for Covid in this window are considered non-contagious and will not need to isolate for another week.
But health officials said last week that the arrival of new subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 meant immunity to infection only lasted four weeks.
Thousands more Australians are being thrown back into isolation, unable to work or go to school, previously thought to be immune.
Pandemic payments of $750 a week for casual workers without sick leave were extended through Sept. 30, costing taxpayers $780 million.
The winter Covid surge is linked to a poor flu season spurred by lower immunity due to lack of exposure during Covid, with 36,719 cases severe enough to be confirmed by testing within two weeks.
But Australians don’t have to isolate at all if they catch the flu, and casual workers who are too ill to work don’t get government support.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said Australians with “other respiratory illnesses” had been urged to stay at home – but failed to mention they would not be supported.
“We’ve also seen a really bad flu season. There are other respiratory diseases,” she said at Sunrise.
“There are a lot of sick people and when we ask them to stay home and self-isolate, I think it is right that the government – in this case state and federal government together – give them a little help. ‘
Australians now face the prospect of spending two weeks out of six of their lives in isolation
Doctors’ offices usually have signs up front warning patients with just a runny nose or cough not to enter, and are asked to indicate such symptoms upon arrival
Covid regulations are also making it harder for Australians to see a doctor or even get vaccinated if they have significant medical conditions.
Most practices will not take bookings through popular online platforms like Health Engine and Hotdoc when a patient is experiencing breathing difficulties.
Instead, they have to call and discuss their symptoms, making it harder for them to get an appointment.
Medical centers contacted by Daily Mail Australia said they would prefer someone with symptoms not to come in, instead accepting patients with minor symptoms and a negative Covid test.
Those with more significant symptoms were restricted to telemedicine appointments.
Doctors’ offices usually have signs up front warning patients with just a runny nose or cough not to enter, and are asked to indicate such symptoms upon arrival.
Covid hospitalization statistics, one of the key pieces of data used to decide the level of restrictions, are being inflated by a bizarre classification process.
The vast majority of those who have contracted Covid are under the age of 50, with 3,121,953 cases to date, but only 293 of that age have died from the virus since the pandemic began. Most of those killed by Covid were men over 70 and women over 80, accounting for 7,585 deaths out of the country’s total virus death toll of 10,582 as of 3pm Friday
Anyone presenting to hospital will be counted towards the number of people hospitalized with Covid if they have tested positive in the past 14 days.
This includes people who have recovered from a mild case up to a week before and are in the hospital for another reason, such as a broken limb or to give birth.
“Active Covid-19 cases are defined as people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 14 days. Cases that are hospitalized are considered active,” NSW Health said.
“It is important to note that given the high number of Covid-19 cases in the community, many patients currently hospitalized with Covid-19 are being treated acutely for a Covid-19 related illness.
“However, some patients will have medical conditions other than Covid-19 as the primary reason for seeking medical care, requiring hospitalization for an unrelated illness, disease or injury.”
Other Australian states use the same methods to calculate their hospital statistics.
Throughout the pandemic, politicians have cited the hospitalization rate as a key indicator of whether restrictions could be eased, as opposed to raw cases.
These Covid rules are just above Australia’s 82.9-year life expectancy, despite the median age of death at 83.
The vast majority of those who have contracted Covid are under the age of 50, with 3,121,953 cases to date. Only 293 people under the age of 50 have died from the virus since the pandemic began.
Statistics show that the under-50s have faced a less than 1 in 10,000 chance of dying from Covid since mass vaccination began in Australia.
“The median age of all those infected is 31… [but] The average age of the deceased is 83,” says the latest edition of the Federal Health Office Coronavirus at a glance report Conditions.
Most of those killed by Covid were men over 70 and women over 80, accounting for 7,585 deaths out of the country’s total virus deaths of 10,582 as of 3pm on Friday
