Could NZ's default Covid isolation period be shortened?

There's increasing support for changes to New Zealand's isolation rules, that'd see some people with Covid-19 only stay home for five days.

Auckland University's Covid-19 Modelling Aotearoa group has released new findings that a "test to release" policy would help reduce transmission, as it'd help uncover a small number of people who need to isolate for up to 10 days.

Lead report author Emily Harvey said, "What we've been looking at is whether there's a better option than this blanket 7 day isolation period.

"The thing is, we know a quarter of people will still be infectious at those seven days, whereas, conversely a whole bunch of people stop being infectious before that point and so there's a few extra days of isolation they maybe don't need to be doing."

She says rapid antigen tests are reliable in working out when someone is no longer infectious.

"That means some could end their isolation sooner, in fact the majority of people could end their isolation sooner and just a few people need to isolate for that longer period."

The owner of an Auckland café with two staff out of action with the virus said, "To have that staff back two days earlier would be great."

But Pavilion's Phillip Smith said he'd want to ensure team members' health still comes first.

"If they felt they were capable and they felt they were strong enough because hospitality is a very physical, you know.

"I'm very comfortable with seven days. I think it's fair. But if they wanted to come back at 5 and they tested negative, why not?"

Epidemiologist Michael Baker says the modelling work that's come out is very helpful.

"The actual period that people are sick for and spreading the virus depends on the person, and it's somewhere between 5-10 days," he said.

He said the latest findings mean "we can improve on how we choose this time by using testing."

He was in favour of two tests to release, rather than one.

Baker told 1News, "Everything is a bit of a compromise between obviously getting people back to work and school but at the same time protecting people around them.

"So it would be much preferable to switching to 7-days plus a RAT test at that point to release and a minority of people could test at 5 days and might find they cleared the virus and that's confirmed after two negative RAT tests but there is risk in all of these approaches, it's about balancing the risks and benefits."

He also said people would have to test carefully and take it seriously.

"People have to understand that this is the core of control of transmission of this infectious disease."

But he agrees it's a good idea for people to be able to re-enter the community, if they're no longer infectious.

He also believes most New Zealanders now know how to use the rapid antigen tests correctly.

National's been calling for a change to the isolation rules for months, saying the Government's been too slow to act.

In a statement the Ministry of Health said, "We keep our response to the global pandemic under review and any decision to change an aspect of our response is based on the latest scientific evidence and information available."

But it reiterated the current isolation period is 7 days, and if a person is still unwell at that point, they are advised to stay at home until 24 hours after symptoms resolve.

Harvey said, "We are at the point where people are wanting to go about life again as soon as possible.

"Covid's definitely less of a big deal now, but people still don't want to spread it if we can avoid it, so that's where we can have more nuanced targeted isolation."

She said isolation isn't black and white.

New Zealand's next Covid settings review is next month.