The removal of mandatory COVID isolation periods has been welcomed by some South Australians, but raised concerns for the state's most vulnerable.
From today, anyone with the illness is no longer legally required to isolate and masks are only mandated in South Australian hospitals — although GPs and other health care sites can continue to enforce mask rules.
South Australian AMA president Michelle Atchison said she was worried about the impact the changes would have on vulnerable people.
"Now we're cutting down isolation rules, we're cutting down mask mandates and we're leaving a whole group of the population open to catching COVID, when we were protecting them," she said.
Dr Atchison said the Australian Medical Association had "always called for these changes to be made on health advice".
"We are really suspicious that these aren't being made on health advice — they're being made for other economic, for social reasons," she said.
"And we understand that.
"We understand that the population is getting sick of having restrictions — but COVID is still here, COVID is still a really infectious illness."
University of South Australia epidemiologist Adrian Esterman said removing the isolation requirement was "a sad moment" and would lead to more infections, if not more cases reported.
"The removal of the isolation measures will absolutely increase infection numbers," Dr Esterman said.
"The trouble is we might not know it because we're not testing anymore."
Dr Esterman said waning immunity would also contribute to more infections.
"Many people had their last [vaccination] dose many months ago, including me, and can't get another dose now," he said.
"That means our immunity is waned by 50 per cent, if not more.
"The third reason we are likely to see another wave hitting before Christmas is there are a number of sub-variants which are more transmissible than the BA.4 and 5 and they are taking over in several parts of the world, including the US."
The latest COVID statistics, released this afternoon, show 2,512 new cases were reported in the past week and 43 people with the virus are in hospital.
But SA Health expects the next wave of COVID-19 infections to peak in early December, with the highest number of hospitalisations to come in the days around Christmas.
South Australia has recorded 1,029 COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Shoppers and business owners in Adelaide's north were feeling positive this morning about the rules lifting.
Shopper Gabriel Sicari said it was "wonderful" that isolation rules had ended, but people should still take precautions.
"Everybody should be free, and everybody should look after each other," he said.
"If you're sick stay home, if you're alright you can go out."
Mohammad Darwishi, who owns a fruit and vegetable shop in Salisbury, welcomed the changes.
He said the isolation requirements had been hard for his business.
"If workers [do] not come in … business breaks down," he said.
What should I do if I test positive?
While the mandatory isolation period has ended, SA Health still strongly encourages people to stay home if they have COVID.
"We want you to stay home when you are unwell, particularly when you've got symptoms," Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said.
"And the virus hasn't changed. It's still infectious for up to 10 days."
Unlike in some other states, South Australians who test positive on a rapid antigen test still need to report that result.
Close contacts are no longer required to take five rapid antigen tests, but are encouraged to follow SA Health's guidelines including monitoring for symptoms, wearing a mask indoors and avoiding hospitals, aged or disability care settings.
The lifting of isolation periods comes nearly 1,000 days since South Australia's first COVID case was detected.
"In a sense we've gone from the government having this great security blanket around the community and we're just now taking that away as we're giving more responsibility back to organisations and individuals," Professor Spurrier said.
Health Minister Chris Picton said fewer PCR tests were being done and data from wastewater testing showed the rate of COVID-19 infections had slowed significantly.
"There is confidence that there is very low case numbers at the moment," he said.
