Key Points
- Professor Steve Robson says Australia hasn't reached the stage where COVID could be treated like the flu
- Epidemiologists say COVID is more transmissible and severe and has long-term effects
Australia's emergency response to COVID ended on 14 October, which means positive cases are no longer required to isolate.
But the National Cabinet's decision has sparked a debate about whether COVID-19 should now be treated like the annual or seasonal flu.
Difference between COVID and the flu
Australian Medical Association's President, Professor Steve Robson, says COVID and influenza have similar symptoms.
But both viruses are significantly different from each other.
"COVID tends to be more infectious and changes its nature more rapidly," Prof Robson says.
"The immunity we have either from a series of vaccinations or from getting COVID wears off very quickly, which makes people vulnerable to multiple infections.
"For example, we're seeing people getting COVID two or three times in a season, which is very uncommon with the flu," Prof Robson tells SBS.
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Another severe wave could bring us back to square one: Australia's top doctor on ending mandatory isolation
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14/10/202214:46
Professor Ian Barr, an influenza expert from Doherty Institute, says influenza has been circulating for probably thousands of years, while COVID-19 has only been around for less than three years.
"The transmission of SARS-CoV-2 occurs more readily than influenza, and current vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 do not effectively stop infection but prevent hospitalisations and deaths in many situations," Prof Barr says.
"Influenza vaccines do somewhat better in terms of stopping infection and have a role in preventing hospitalisations and deaths."
Is COVID more severe than the flu?
Prof Robson says COVID is a multi-system infection that causes long-term brain inflammation.
COVID can lead to long COVID, which is not the case with influenza infection.
Prof Robson says it takes enormous resources to treat people with COVID-19 in hospitals.
"Healthcare workers need to wear special protective equipment, and special resources are needed to stop COVID spreading through the hospital," he says.
"It often affects the hospital staff, so fewer healthcare workers are available to treat patients. A monumental number of people are waiting now for elective surgery."
So when will we treat COVID like the flu?
Prof Barr says a transition to treating COVID-19 like influenza is a natural progression.
"It is expected that COVID-19 will adopt a more seasonal (winter) pattern, although cases might still occur out of season," he says.
"What is still to be determined are the long-term effects of COVID-19 versus influenza infections. There may be differences between the different COVID-19 variants as they emerge. For example, Delta might have more severe long-term effects than Omicron infections."
Professor Robson said it's important to understand that Australia has not reached that stage yet.
Easing restrictions or abandoning other protections signals to the community that things are over, and that's not correct
"We know there will be more waves of COVID in the future, and it's difficult to predict how severe they'll be." Prof Robson says.
When will we reach that stage?
Prof Robson says Australia will reach the stage when the effects of COVID on the community, the health system and the economy are no different to seasonal flu.
"Seasonal flu has good and bad years, but a combination of a bad flu season and a bad coronavirus season would be really catastrophic," he says.
"COIVD has enormous potential to affect the workforce. So it's not like it is with a normal flu epidemic. We're hopeful this will change, but we're not there yet."
Way forward
Prof Robson said the way forward is that people shouldn't get the message that COVID is a mild disease.
"We need to make sure vaccinations are up-to-date. And we've seen that the booster program in this country is absolutely bogged in the sand at the moment, and this needs to change with the newer vaccines that are coming out that include Omicron in them," he says.
Prof Barr says mRNA vaccine manufacturers such as Moderna are looking at combining influenza and COVID-19 vaccine.
But he says now that isolation and restrictions have been lifted in many countries, it will be hard to "put the genie back in the bottle"!!
Dr Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist currently completing his PhD at Griffith University, says Australia and other countries need to wait at least until next year before COVID-19 is treated like the flu sooner or later.
"The oral antivirals are still not easily accessible to people. It will take some time," he says.
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