What the end of COVID-19 isolation means for people with a disability

She has been shielding herself from society since a chronic fatigue diagnosis 25 years ago cost her a job, social life and a high-flying hobby - paragliding.

The 67-year-old suffers from fibromyalgia, which causes constant pain, and has had four brain operations to deal with trigeminal neuralgia, a condition that affects nerves in the face.

She would venture out to buy groceries, go from walks and enjoy three social activities - a trip to the cinema, an outing to the local club and a game of bingo.

But her world was, more or less, confined to the walls of her Kambah home and the company of her Maltese shih tzu, Teddy.

That world shrunk even further with the arrival in 2020 of a virus which, if she caught it, would either hit like the flu or kill her.

Those rare outings became rarer even as restrictions eased, and each trip to a public place still requires careful planning and a risk assessment. Case numbers, at least when they were reported daily, were used to guide if it was safe to leave home or not.

"I think the perception [in the community] is that COVID doesn't exist anymore," she said.

"I just can't afford to think like that."

The last of the remaining public health restrictions against COVID-19 have now been dropped, with people who catch the virus no longer required to isolate.

For many, national cabinet's decision to scrap mandatory isolation represented a welcome and overdue step back to normal life after more than two-and-a-half years of disruption.

But leading epidemiologists and medical groups including the Australian Medical Association maintain it is still too soon to treat COVID-19 like other respiratory illnesses.

The winter Omicron surge might have well and truly passed - Canberra averaged just 76 cases a day in the most recent weekly reporting period - but the virus is still circulating and the threat of new variants remains ever present.

For those at high-risk, such as 28-year-old Katie Shoemark, there is a feeling of anxiety about the coming weeks and months, coupled with a sense they've been abandoned by governments and the general population.

"I'm terrified," Ms Shoemark said.

Ms Shoemark, who has condition affecting skin, joints and blood vessels known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, has worked from home and limited her exposure to the public throughout the pandemic.

That didn't stop her catching the virus in January, which floored her for four weeks and, 10 months on, is still causing problems.

As restrictions have gradually lifted and community vigilance and rates of testing have waned, she said the risks for people in her situation have risen.

"It's making it harder and harder to do anything at all outside, as it gets riskier and riskier and less and less of the community are taking any harm minimisation steps," she said.

Advocacy For Inclusion is among the groups which have sounded the alarm about the risks of abandoning public health restrictions while the pandemic rolls on.

The Canberra-based organisation's chief executive, Nicolas Lawler, said there needed to be an "honest conversation" about the social, human rights, moral and economic implications of pursuing a "living with COVID" path.

With "personal responsibility" now defining the approach to pandemic management, Mr Lawler said governments needed to step up with policies which allowed people to protect themselves.

The group backs the position of OzSage, a network of experts which advocates controlling transmission through measures beyond vaccines, such as air ventilation.

Ms Shoemark said mandatory mask-wearing should be re-introduced and the nation's expert vaccine advisory panel - known as ATAGI - should greenlight access to fourth doses for under-30s.

"COVID is not over, and we need to have governments acknowledge that as a starting point," she said.

ACT Minister for Disability Emma Davidson acknowledged that the pandemic had not ended, as she declared she would do "whatever it takes" to protect the health of people with a disability, the elderly and carers.

"My priority is to ensure those who are most at risk of COVID-19 are supported and protected. Their safety should be the single most important thing we are all thinking of," she told The Canberra Times.

"I want to assure employers and workers in the disability and home care sectors that the ACT government is still here to support them - whether it is access to personal protective equipment, rapid antigen tests, advocating on their behalf to the Commonwealth government or getting the message out to the community to stay home if they are sick."

A range of support will continue to be offered to Canberrans most of at-risk of severe illness, including accessible flu and COVID-19 vaccinations and free PCR and rapid antigen test at government testing centres.

MORE HEALTH NEWS:

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler this week said the federal government was "very conscious" of the anxiety among people in high-risk groups.

Mr Butler pointed out that at the same meeting when it was decided to end mandatory isolation, national cabinet agreed to paid pandemic leave-style arrangements for workers in aged care, disability care, Aboriginal healthcare and hospitals.

The federal government also last month announced an extra $1.44 billion to extend COVID-19-related support, a package which included $840 million to protect aged care homes and $115 million for rapid antigen tests in high-risk settings.