The Herald's View: While some further measures might be needed to keep the economy turning over, allowing staff to turn up for work sick with COVID-19 is not one of them
In the meantime, the federal government should consider other ideas to boost the workforce such as an Australian Industry Group proposal for filling gaps in the workforce by temporarily granting full work rights to temporary visa holders. For example, legally international students can currently only work 40 hours a fortnight.
Modelling predicts that the Omicron surge will peak in a month and RA tests and vaccines will become easier to access. But, until then, there is a fine line to walk between keeping the economy alive on one hand and preventing COVID-19 from overwhelming the health system.