Leading South West doctor Brenda Murrison welcomes changes to isolation length and close-contact definitions

A leading South West doctor is among the list of medical experts who have welcomed changes to WA’s isolation requirements and close-contact definitions, saying the new settings will help businesses and schools stay open as Omicron case numbers start to increase. On Monday Premier Mark McGowan announced new COVID protocols would come into effect across WA from Tuesday, effectively halving the length of quarantine for close contacts and returned travellers from 14 to seven days. The changes had been flagged as a possibility by the Premier just 10 days earlier when he and Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson released the settings that would apply once WA moved into a high COVID-19 caseload environment. The Premier’s decision to move to these settings came after calls from medical experts, including Australian Medical Association WA president Mark Duncan-Smith who on Friday called on the Government to update the quarantine and isolation rules to fall in line with the rest of the country. “There has not been a single case in Western Australia of a contact quarantine patient returning a positive COVID test in their second week of isolation,” Dr Duncan-Smith said on Friday. Owner and founder of Brecken Health Bunbury, Dr Brenda Murrison, said she was “delighted” the definitions had been updated. “I’m actually delighted that this has happened,” she said. “We needed to fall in line with the national guidelines.” Dr Murrison believes the previous isolation rules and close-contact definitions were out of step with the rest of the world. “The seven days is much more sensible, it’s much more workable, as we move forward to the true experience of the pandemic in WA,” Dr Murrison said. When Mr McGowan announced in January the borders would not be opening as planned, Dr Murrison called for the definitions to be updated, saying the old definition could cripple the workforce as a whole. “We can’t stay with this outdated two weeks for anybody that’s had even a brief contact with a positive case — it just doesn’t work,” Dr Murrison told the South Western Times on January 27. “As we move forward we will just have whole swathes of staff stood down, whole practices just shut because of the restrictions we have. The last thing we need right now is medical centres and hospital staff being stood down because we’re using the definition of two weeks quarantine.” Mr McGowan’s decision has brought WA’s isolation requirements into line with the rest of the country, which Dr Murrison believes will give the whole community a better chance of coping with an increase in COVID cases. “It’s not just about the health system, I think it prepares the rest of the system,” she said. “Every occupation will have a time when their employees or contractors are at home (due to COVID). “So it’s about making sure the schools operate, it’s about making sure that the shops operate, that everything else operates.”