I’m going to start with a disclaimer. 
Because you know when someone rings me up and says something and I ask them how they know that or what proof they have? Well, on this one, I have no technical proof. 
Nevertheless, I reckon it’s pretty safe to say that most people isolating at home at the moment don’t have Covid. 
And they’re only isolating because someone they live with has it. 
So, they’re stuck at home for 10 days, some of them probably driving each other mad, for no good reason other than they “might” catch something. Which is ludicrous, isn’t it? 
And I hope that sometime this week, the Government comes to its senses and also realises that it’s ludicrous and makes some significant changes. 
Apparently, it’s considering advice from experts on this. My advice would be cut the isolation period for household contacts in half – make it five days. 
That’s what they’re now doing in England. They made the change late last month. 
In fact, over there they’ve gone the whole hog and there is no legal requirement for people to self-isolate – whether they’ve got Covid or just a household contact. 
But they are encouraging people with Covid and household contacts to self-isolate for five days. And only stay at home longer than that, if they test positive.  
Now with the current Omicron outbreak here, I don’t think we’re ready to ditch self-isolation outright – particularly for people who have it. 
But I do think requiring people to isolate for 10 days just because they live with someone who has Covid, well it’s just stupid. 
When you think about it, it’s actually the complete opposite of a lockdown. Last year and the year before, we were all locked down to keep us separated from people with Covid. 
Now, we’re being told to lock ourselves up for 10 days with someone who has Covid. 
Unless, of course, you’re a healthcare worker, because the Government has just announced that even if you’ve got Covid, you can still go to work after six days. 
Which has politics written all over it, doesn’t it? Because hospitals struggling to cope because too many staff are stuck at home, is the last thing the Government wants to be trying to defend, isn’t it?  
So that’s why it’s now saying that healthcare workers are off the hook in terms of isolating for 10 days. 
Well, if it’s good enough for nurses, why isn’t it good enough for everyone else? 
I bet if we had Chris Hipkins on the show this morning and we asked him about this, he’d rabbit on about calculated risk and the different environment we’re living in now that it’s the Omicron variant we’re dealing with. 
And I’d ask him, “well why can’t we make the same rules for everyone else?” 
And he’d say: "ummmm, arrghhhh, ummmm..." 
It makes no sense to be locking people up for 10 days. Especially when they don’t have Covid. 
The disruption it is causing is significant and unnecessary. Schools are struggling – because it’s not just the kids isolating, it’s the teachers too. 
Businesses are struggling. I went past a place yesterday that had a sign up saying it was closed because too many staff were in isolation.  
And I bet most of them are isolating for 10 days not because they have Covid, but because they live with someone who has it. 
It’s absolute nuts, and that’s why I think it can’t go on. If people are going to be expected to isolate because someone in the house has Covid, then make it sensible, and cut it down to five days.  
Ten days is way too long.

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