Small business owners in country towns are reducing trading hours and struggling to make money in what is being described as a "shadow lockdown".
Retailers say people are so worried about catching Omicron, especially in towns with only a small hospital, that they are only venturing out for the essentials.
Andrew Cooper owns clothing stores in Warwick, two hours west of Brisbane, and jokes about playing it cool when a rare customer walks through the door.
But it has been a lonely few months on Palmerin Street where Mr Cooper has been in business for five years.
"It is depressing to see the street so quiet. It's sad to see that it's going to waste, in a sense," Mr Cooper said.
"You can get to three o'clock in the afternoon and there's no-one parking; there are no customers walking around."
He said locals he speaks to are worried about venturing out too often and risking catching the highly infectious COVID-19 Omicron variant.
For retailers in rural and regional areas across the country that have been through drought, bushfires, and now a pandemic, Mr Cooper said that was devastating.
"Even some stores are closing earlier. I guess that's got to do with paying wages too, paying for staff is difficult. The true impact of it all is kind of coming out now," he said.
Worried about adding to hospital strain
Retailers in metropolitan cities are also experiencing a downturn, but in smaller centres where health and medical resources are already incredibly stretched, a major COVID outbreak is considered too great a risk to take.
Chair of the Australian Medical Association's Council of Rural Doctors, Marco Giuseppin, said people were being extra cautious, where possible.
"It's a bit of a mood of anticipation and maybe a bit of trepidation about what, perhaps, a major outbreak might mean for their community," said Dr Giuseppin, who is based in Mount Isa in north-west Queensland.
"People … have seen their health system in many ways deteriorate as the demands on it have increased.
"I think a lot of people in rural communities are very community-minded, and there's a fear in the background that they may put a strain on their health system and it's not something that they're keen to do."
'Shadow lockdown' keeping customers away
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar believes, from an economic standpoint, this is the toughest period rural business has endured since the start of the pandemic.
"We've seen customers taking a more cautious approach, so in many cases it's been like a shadow lockdown now for a number of weeks," Mr McKellar said.
"I'm sure that the pressure on the health system has been a factor.
Mr McKellar said there had not been the same level of financial support as at the start of the pandemic.
"There should be a national response here, there should be a consistent approach to it," he said.
"Where that's not provided then obviously we've got to look to state governments as well.
"It's still a very, very challenging situation for many, particularly in the smaller businesses."
