Data from around the world suggests that vaccinated people are still able to contract Covid-19, although the transmissibility and risk of serious illness, hospitalisation and death is greatly reduced. It therefore seems likely that fully vaccinated people in NSW could be exposed and test positive to the virus once the state reopens on October 11.
So, what happens if you are exposed once you’re double jabbed? This question was raised at the press briefing on September 29, and while there were not a lot of concrete details, the state’s chief medical officer Dr Kerry Chant did offer some indications of what this new normal might look like.
Prior to October 11, anyone exposed to Covid-19 is expected to immediately isolate while contact tracers race to cut the chains of transmission, and those who test positive are required to quarantine for 14 days. From October 11, unvaccinated people will still be required to isolate if exposed. However, it seems that it will depend on the context of the exposure if you’re fully vaccinated.
“We are going to be factoring vaccination status into whether you even fall into the category of a close contact and we have been factoring in other protective measures,” Chant said.
“If people are wearing masks indoors, we can assume that provides an additional layer of protection, and if your case is positive and they have been wearing a mask, that provides protection.
“[NSW Health] intends on providing businesses with a matrix which takes into account various factors. We will be more concerned about some settings, like health care, disability, aged care, so we may take a more cautious approach because we are concerned about the complexity and the consequences in those settings.
“In other settings, it may be that we assume when everyone is vaccinated, and you have knowingly taken that risk, we don’t do the same level of contact tracing that has been occurring in the earlier phases in the outbreak.”
Chant said that it was up to employers to have a “robust” Covid-Safe plan in place to keep their staff safe, but if an outbreak were to occur within a business's staff, NSW Health would “ramp up the response”.
“All businesses will be having indoor mask-wearing. All businesses will be having fully vaccinated staff. In terms of hospitality or new businesses that are opening and permitted at 70 per cent, those strategies and having the Covid-Safe tea rooms will protect you from having anyone off,” Chant said.
“The best thing business can do is make sure you have been fully vaccinated but you continue to make sure staff are diligently wearing masks and they are not congregating in any other informal settings which pose a risk of transmission.”
However, one thing that will apparently remain unchanged, regardless of vaccination status, is that anyone who tests positive will be required to isolate for 14 days. “We still will be asking the community to get tested and I hope we have changed fundamentally the view that people go to work if they have got a sniffle, a sore throat and runny nose, given the fact we have progressed so much around working from home,” Chant said.