Health orders requiring Canberrans to isolate for a week if someone in their home has COVID-19 are likely to be scrapped, following similar decisions in New South Wales and Victoria.
The two state governments announced today they would drop quarantine rules for close contacts, though individuals who live with infected people will need to wear masks in their homes.
The NSW change comes into effect at 6:00pm on Friday, while Victoria's rules change at 11:59pm on Friday.
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said today she was still working out what changes the territory would make.
"The ACT government is keen to ensure that ACT public health directions are consistent with settings in NSW and Victoria to the greatest extent possible, taking account of our local circumstances," she said .
"While there has been close engagement between officials, and I also spoke with the NSW and Victorian health ministers yesterday, the final detail on their announcements was only available this morning."
She will make a more detailed announcement on Thursday.
However, Ms Stephen-Smith added that the ACT government needed to balance the growing risk of infection if rules were eased with the effects quarantine had on Canberrans and local businesses.
"This means that appropriate precautions need to be taken for household contacts to go into the community," she said.
Lifted restrictions can't come soon enough for business
Canberra businesses have welcomed the pending changes, saying the isolation rules for household contacts have caused severe staffing shortages.
Loulou Moxom, who owns Braddon florist Moxom and Whitney, said managing the business while obeying restriction rules had been difficult.
"Everything was fantastic until COVID-19 hit … we took a massive hit, it's been really hard," she said.
In recent months, it had been a challenge to stay open as the Omicron variant tore through the community.
"Because we're such a small team, when one's out, everyone's either isolating or they're out or we're waiting for the next person to get it," she said.
"We've tried working offsite, we've tried bringing in people who might be able to help, but floristry is a skilled business — you can't just call on anyone to help."
Across the road, Julian Fresi at Elemental Cafe had faced the same hurdles.
At one point, his head barista and his head chef were forced to isolate at the same time.
"It really showed where the government let you down a bit — they were all for giving you money at the start, like your weekly grants and stuff.
"But when the push came to shove and you had to shut to help your business … you were on your own."
He said staff were often confused as to whether they should be isolating or not, and it was hard telling people not to show up knowing it would affect their income.
"Some staff they would ring me and go, 'Do I have to isolate, do I not have to isolate?'
"And you sort of had to go 'yes', as much as they wanted the work and you needed the staff.
"It was really hard."
He said "the sooner the changes come in, the better" for small businesses.
Border changes no magic bullet
Despite these obstacles for businesses, Ms Stephen-Smith said the ACT government would not "rush" its restrictions decision.
"Where people return to their workplaces, the appropriate work health and safety protocols need to be in place," she said.
Canberra Region Tourism chief executive Naomi Dale said that while many had assumed that life would go back to normal once border restrictions were lifted, it was a different experience for the ACT's hospitality and tourism sector.
"We're seeing huge issues with hospitality and tourism staff as an ongoing impact of COVID-19," she said.
"The issue mainly is, we're seeing a lot of staff having to isolate for seven days due to being what's classified as a close contact, and this is making it more and more difficult for some of these businesses to stay open and take advantage of holiday periods and so on."
She said many businesses were forced to close due to a lack of staff, even when they desperately needed the income.
"What we're hearing anecdotally is that businesses are having to close their doors in order to be safe."
