Australia’s largest retail industry group, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), has today welcomed the Queensland Government’s announcement to scrap close contact isolation requirements, which follows the moves from NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

“For months, we’ve been advocating to government authorities to make this move as isolations were contributing to already severe staff shortages across the retail industry and the broader economy,” ARA CEO Paul Zahra said.

“Some businesses have had to restrict their trading hours, or close some locations altogether, simply because they haven’t had the staff to stay open as Covid isolations took hold.

“Pleasingly, our three largest states, along with the ACT, are now removing close contact isolation requirements, which means healthy people who are testing negative can get back to work, instead of isolating for seven days.

“This is a massive relief for businesses who haven’t been able to trade at their full potential. It’s clear that even with such high vaccination rates, we’re going to continue to see cases go through peaks and troughs, but we can’t shelter ourselves forever. It’s time to truly live with Covid as many other economies around the world have for many months.”