Queensland is moving too soon to ease mask restrictions at a time when the state is still recording thousands of new COVID-19 cases a day, according to a world-leading air quality and health expert.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced yesterday that Queensland's mask mandate would be lifted in most indoor venues from March 4.
The decision is backed by Chief Health Officer John Gerrard and means masks will no longer be required at workplaces, schools, shops, cafes, restaurants or pubs.
Density limits will also be scrapped at weddings, funerals and home gatherings, with the ban on visitors to schools also set to ease.
Masks will still be required on public transport, in hospitals, at airports, in disability care centres, in prisons and at aged care homes.
But air quality and health expert Lidia Morawska told the ABC it was too soon to ease restrictions.
"Removing masks is not a good idea," Professor Morawska said.
"The number of people infected in the community is very high.
"We haven't taken many other measures to protect people, like improved ventilation in indoor spaces.
"If people are in proximity to each other, even with improved ventilation, infection risk is very high, so mask wearing is a very well protected measure."
Professor Morawska, who was last year named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for helping highlight the airborne spread of COVID-19, said the easing of restrictions would push daily new case numbers higher.
"Certainly, it will result in an increase in the number of cases, or we won't see cases going down sufficiently," she said.
Professor Morawska is a member of COVID-19 advisory body OzSAGE, which has advised against governments getting rid of mask mandates.
"We certainly would be lifting it too early and as OzSAGE suggested we shouldn't be doing this. After all, the number of people infected in the community is very high," she said.
She said relying on vaccination rates to fight the virus would not be enough to protect the community.
"We've seen people who are vaccinated and still contract COVID — people who are vaccinated and still are infectious and infect others.
"So vaccination, of course it's absolutely necessary to reduce the severity of the disease, but it is not completely removing the risk of infection."
For people who are immunocompromised, limiting the risk of infection can be the difference between life or death, and it is not a matter of just "living with the pandemic," Professor Morawska said.
"I'm not sure that this is the right statement because for some 'living with the pandemic' means dying because of the pandemic.
"It's not like a cold that we can live with. This has consequences … we need to be limiting the risk of infection to avoid these consequences and mask wearing is a very simple way of doing this.
"It makes very good sense."
'Not the end of the pandemic'
Infectious disease expert Paul Griffin said it was still appropriate for masks to be worn in high-risk settings such as health care, aged care and disability support.
He is encouraged Queenslanders to continue carrying masks with them and to be aware of situations where they might need to put one on.
But Professor Griffin said Queensland could handle the number of cases that could come from the end of mask mandates.
He said while it was appropriate to relax restrictions, people should remain vigilant with other COVID-19 safety measures.
"Our reliance on our other mitigation strategies that need to continue is perhaps even more critical now, and by that I mean things like getting tested and staying in if you have symptoms, and of course, being up to date with your vaccination," Professor Griffin said.
"If you're going to be somewhere where there's prolonged indoor close contact, particularly with large numbers of people, I'd certainly encourage people to still strongly consider wearing their mask, particularly if you're someone who's vulnerable or at greater risk."
He said the easing of restrictions did not signal the end of the pandemic, and warned mask mandates could return at any time.
"We've seen time and time again how unpredictable it has been already," he said.
"There's a very high probability that we will need to flex up our strategy at some point in the future as the virus comes back, whether it's a new variant or another wave.
"We're going to have to have a response that's agile and it needs to be able to happen quickly.
"This is an important, big step but it certainly doesn't mean that the pandemic is over."
Professor Griffin urged people not to become complacent and said Queensland might never return to zero cases.
