A massive shift took place overnight on Wednesday: As the clock ticked past midnight, Victoria officially left its declared pandemic period behind.
It means people with COVID-19 are not legally obligated to isolate, positive test results no longer need to be reported to authorities and mask guidelines have been walked back for schools.
For many wanting to put the pandemic behind them, it's welcome news, while for others it means an increased state of anxiety.
Leading epidemiologist and director of the Doherty Institute, Sharon Lewin, says it's an appropriate move for the current situation.
"It's a clear sign we're in a different phase of the pandemic. We've got a large number of people who have been vaccinated, been infected or both. [There's] high levels of hybrid immunity," she says.
"We know that the disease impact is lower from COVID. And numbers are low.
"So, I think, we expected to get to this position. We weren't going to be in crisis mode indefinitely.
"So it's reassuring to be in this position."
The changes came into effect one day before the rest of the nation makes the same move to scrap mandatory isolation rules.
Businesses that have struggled through years of lockdowns are breathing a sigh of relief.
"I think it signals the end of the pandemic as we've known it," says Paul Guerra, the head of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"And [it] signals to business, in fact [to] every Victorian, that it's now time to get on with it."
While people are still strongly encouraged to stay home if they have COVID-19 or another contagious illness, it's still up to the individual to decide what they do.
Geelong designer Irith says that means she will keep living her life in a state of semi-isolation.
She had cancer about five years ago and, while the treatment has worked, she says she's never been able to return to full health.
"I know what it's like to live with chronic side-effects, and you just wouldn't wish it on anybody," she says.
Irith contracted COVID-19 in June and says it's "done a number on my immune system" and she is now living with an associated asthma flare-up.
She says she also takes preventative measures because she wants to avoid passing the illness on to other people.
As the declaration winds back, she says, she's feeling more angry than she is concerned at what she sees as an ignorance of the realities of the pandemic.
"I feel like the politicians are gaslighting the whole Australian population," she says.
Community nurse Martha — who is using a pseudonym because she works with vulnerable clients in regional Victoria — is worried there will be more COVID-positive people circulating in the community.
Martha works with people who have severe, chronic diseases, including a man in his 80s who she says broke down at their last appointment because he's now too afraid to leave the house.
"Because, if he gets COVID, he will die. He knows that," she says.
Martha, herself, is on immunosuppressant medications due to a pre-existing condition. She says she takes precautions to keep herself and her children safe, such as wearing an N95 mask, but "now it's reaching a point where you're made to feel like a weirdo" for staying safe.
"So, I'm finding it really hard now, because even though I know what to do to keep myself safe, I feel like I'm being socially isolated," she says.
Health measures 'may well come back'
The national cabinet decision on isolation requirements was made on the advice of Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly. However, the national advisory committee — the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) — was not consulted.
Professor Lewin says people who are vulnerable should make sure they have access to the full range of tools and measures to keep them safe.
That means being fully vaccinated and having an antiviral plan should they contract COVID-19, and taking the preventative anti-viral Evusheld if eligible. She says fitted masks and adequate ventilation remain valuable tools in minimising risk.
Professor Lewin says that, while immunity levels and summer approaching means winding the pandemic declaration back is appropriate now, "I think what's really important for people to know that this is just not a one-way decision".
"People should be prepared that, in the event that a new variant comes or infections rapidly increase, there is still a risk. There'll be an impact on the hospital system," she says. "And, so, measures may well come back."
For health measures to come back into place in the event of a case surge or a new variant, the health minister would need to enact another pandemic declaration, a politically risky move after years of lockdowns.
It is the first time since March 2020 that there has not been a state of emergency or pandemic declaration in place to govern the response to COVID-19 in Victoria.
Mr Guerra says that, as the state adjusts, businesses are making and enforcing their own policies about COVID-19 isolation and testing.
"But the good news is, we now get to take responsibility for the actions of ourselves, rather than having to rely on governments to tell us what to do," he says.
That will, he says, likely mean more businesses will be having conversations with their workers about a return to the office.
"I think most businesses are now adept at making the risk call," he says.
"I think what's required now is the business owner, the business manager, to meet with their employees to work out, how does going forward look?"
