Experts have levelled criticism at the federal government's flagged shift in the way COVID-19 deaths are reported, warning it would reinforce the common misconception the pandemic is over.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
For many months, government and public health officials have instructed the community to focus not on COVID-19 case numbers, but on lives lost to the deadly disease.
This data, they said, would constitute a more accurate reflection of the pandemic's toll on the community from a health perspective, as well as the relative threat the virus may or may not continue to pose.
But as the Omicron BA.2 variant sweeps the community, the federal government has recommended that daily deaths no longer be reported.
READ MORE:
"We need to move away, now, from counting the number of people who die from COVID-19 on any one day towards a concept known as 'excess deaths'," said chief medical officer Paul Kelly last week, noting this was essentially the difference between the observed number of deaths versus the expected number of deaths in a given time.
The recommendation, however, has since attracted heavy criticism, with University of Melbourne epidemiologist Nancy Baxter among those experts warning it would have the effect of "masking" the true impact of the virus on the community.
"I have great respect for Paul Kelly, but that's not just an appropriate way to track and manage disease," Professor Baxter said.
"It will make COVID less salient in the community's mind - which is fine if the aim is to have no one paying attention to COVID, but what it won't do is change the fact people are dying or emerging with long COVID every day and that we could be preventing that."
It's a view shared by Burnet Institute epidemiologist Mike Toole, who said the shift would collapse the ability of government to respond to waves of transmission in real time.
"It's inconsistent with long-standing principles of epidemiological response," he said. "You gather real time data so you can make real time responses on that data."
"With more transmission comes more death and more long COVID - you can't erase that and we know long COVID is going to become a major problem," she said, adding some 10-30 per cent of people infected with the virus emerge with long-term illness.
"And with flu on the way, we find ourselves in an extremely unpredictable landscape - especially with the combo of COVID and flu.
"We shouldn't be dialling back our protections long before the risk is over, which is what we're doing."
A recent British study, which measured the increased risk of hospitalisation associated with a person who contracts both COVID-19 and influenza at the same time, found it increased a person's risk of requiring ventilation by 70 per cent. Dual infection was also found to increase the risk of death by 50 per cent.
Professor Baxter said the research pointed to the heightened vulnerability of all people this flu season and the importance of prioritising both COVID-19 and flu vaccination.
"If we allow COVID to spread without trying to limit transmission, we are not going to have a smooth ride for the future - that we know."
Flu vaccinations are now available in most, if not all, pharmacies. Particularly vulnerable groups include pregnant women, those over 65 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, children under 5 years and people with comorbidities.
