As COVID-19 spreads around Tasmania, those living with disability say they're worried

Elena Macdonald says she hasn't lived "much of a life" since many of the COVID restrictions Tasmanians were used to living with fell away and the idea of casual contacts was ditched.

The 22-year-old lives with a number of complex chronic illnesses which impact her health and compromise her immune system.

She knows her underlying conditions mean there is a chance COVID could make her very unwell. 

The effects of long COVID, which are still being studied, are also something they have been forced to consider.

"To have another complex illness compounded on top of what is already complicated is terrifying," she said. 

Elena's mum works at the state's biggest hospital. The pair are refraining from physical contact to help reduce the possibility of transmission.

"It's not really possible in one house but I guess we don't really have physical contact at the moment. When she gets home from work she takes off her uniform at the front door."

Diabetic Peter Manaena, 63, is leading a life of self-prescribed isolation, too — he only leaves home for the essentials. 

Mr Manaena said he felt concerned when state and territory leaders and health authorities described the Omicron variant as "mild" when even a flu can make him "very ill".

Like Elena, he said he was not willing to "test" what COVID would do to him. 

"I'm frustrated. I'm not scared, I'm not panicking," he said.

"I thought when we went into lockdown and we left behind all the things we went without, we were trying to protect everyone and not leave anyone behind and now it seems to be that the economy matters."

People feeling 'anxious and forgotten'

Disability advocates have been vocal about the effects of allowing widespread community transmission. 

Tasmanian Disability Education Reform Lobby founder Kristen Desmond said people were feeling "anxious and forgotten". 

Ms Desmond also said there was a lack of accessible information those with a disability could rely on. 

"The best way that people with a disability can stay safe is to have free access to rapid antigen testing, to have fact sheets that tell them what happens when their carer tests positive for COVID-19 and they can't get another carer," she said.

"What happens for a carer when a person with a disability tests positive for COVID and just can't isolate, it's just not possible?

"We have one of the highest rates per capita of people with disability and yet at the moment there isn't any information coming out, and support for those people [to] help them understand what they need to do."

Ms Desmond said there was also a lack of protocol when it came to carers requiring tests before spending time with someone with a disability or suppressed immune system.

She said the government's decision not to list exposure sites was making it harder for carers to work out whether they were putting someone else at risk. 

Health Department to meet with disability advocates

A Health Department spokesman said department representatives were meeting with disability representatives this week to seek input into the state's COVID response. 

"Should a person with disability need to access rapid antigen tests because they are symptomatic or a close contact, they should contact the Public Health Hotline and request a RAT to be delivered to their home, noting their disability and inability to access from a distribution site," the spokesman said. 

"Rapid antigen tests for asymptomatic screening purposes will be available for specified concession card holders from pharmacies under a Commonwealth distribution program in the next fortnight."

According to the spokesman, now that that COVID is widespread in Tasmania, listing of exposure sites would no longer provide a reliable indication of where there was risk of COVID.

"It is important to assume that there may be persons who are undiagnosed cases of COVID in any Tasmanian location," the spokesman said.