Two years into the pandemic, Western Australia once again has been left indefinitely closed off to the rest of the world.
Its plan to bring down the borders on February 5 has been ditched, with no clear path ahead for when WA will reunite with the rest of the country.
So, how did it come to this? And what does the decision mean?
What has happened?
Late last year, WA Premier Mark McGowan announced a February 5 reopening to interstate and international travellers, describing that date at the time as "locked in".
WA is on the verge of reaching the stated vaccination goal to reopen — a 90 per cent vaccination rate for those aged 12 and over.
But in an extraordinary evening press conference barely two weeks from that date, Mr McGowan walked away from that plan, insisting it would be "reckless and irresponsible" for WA to proceed.
Why has WA done this?
According to Mr McGowan, it all comes down to the Omicron variant up-ending all the assumptions WA had based its reopening plan on.
"Unfortunately, the world changed in December. Omicron arrived," he said.
"Omicron is a whole new ball game."
Mr McGowan pointed to concerns that two vaccine doses offered limited protection against catching Omicron, insisting more time was needed to lift the booster rate, get more children vaccinated and to "watch and learn" from the COVID surge being experienced in other states.
He said watching the flood of cases and rapid growth in hospitalisations in other states had left him with no choice but to change course.
So what does it mean?
Effectively, travel to Western Australia will remain off-limits beyond February 5.
The rules will not be quite as extreme as they are now. There will be exemptions for compassionate grounds and to allow returning West Australians back into the state (which do not exist currently).
But, there will still be a hard border — nobody will be able to enter WA without a compelling reason.
And there will be very strict restrictions on those who are allowed in, including 14 days of mandatory self-isolation, regular PCR testing and mandatory triple vaccination.
So while travel restrictions will be somewhat relaxed, WA's border will still be shut and relatively few people will be allowed in.
What now?
That is the biggest mystery of all of this.
For months now, West Australians had a clear goal in mind — 90 per cent vaccination for the 12+ cohort.
The public was promised that once the target was met, borders would reopen.
But after Mr McGowan's announcement, it is not clear what it will take for WA to bring down its borders.
The Premier said he wanted the booster rate to increase significantly "above at least 80 per cent, perhaps 90 per cent".
"What we are going to do is review the situation over February and watch what is occurring over east and work out what the best approach is for Western Australia," Mr McGowan said.
So, there's no new date?
No. And it is not even clear when WA will set a date again, much less what that date will be.
Even then, Mr McGowan made it clear that nothing would be set in stone.
"I can't predict what the future will hold," he said when asked about what would happen if a new variant came along.
Is the health system ready?
That was the big question for many West Australians — could the state cope with a flood of COVID cases?
The state's hospitals have been under immense pressure even without COVID patients, and medical lobby groups who had pushed for a delay said it was clear the system would crumble if the virus surged in WA.
But critics point to the fact that WA has had two years to prepare and record-setting, multi-billion dollar surpluses — leaving little excuse for the state to be unprepared.
"The Premier's plan to lock WA up indefinitely points to a failure of leadership and a failure to prepare for COVID," Shadow Health Minister Libby Mettam tweeted.
Who can enter WA after February 5?
The government has announced that returning West Australians with strong recent connections or family in WA will be permitted to enter the state.
Other approved travellers permitted to enter WA under the new expanded exemptions from February 5 will include:
- Returning West Australians with strong recent connections with WA
- Returning West Australians with family connections in WA
- Compassionate grounds including funerals and palliative care or terminally ill visitation
- People entering for urgent or essential medical treatment
- People entering WA for national or state security reasons
- People with specialist skills
- Commonwealth and state officials, members of parliament, and diplomats
- Other extraordinary circumstances approved by the Chief Health Officer or Police Commissioner
What else do I need to know?
There are issues WA will still need to decide upon soon — especially with the virus seemingly gaining a foothold in the WA community, with multiple locally acquired cases being reported most days and concerns over mystery infections.
WA still needs to decide what the return of schools will look like, with students due back in just over a week.
There also needs to be a decision on close contact rules, with fears the existing 14-day isolation requirement would cripple the workforce.
But, with WA's reopening plan now on hold indefinitely, some of those issues have become a little less urgent.
