Low-paid people may shun testing for COVID even if they think they've got it once free testing kits for concession card-holders ends at the end of the month.
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That's the warning from organisations which help the poorest in Canberra.
It's better not to know than to lose income is the rationale.
"People who are in the gig economy, on temporary contracts, are faced with losing income if they test positive, and that means they might not be able to pay rent or put food on the table," said Emma Campbell, the chief executive of the ACT Council of Social Services.
Dr Campbell wants the government to reverse its decision and keep providing free rapid tests, saying: "This is sensible policy to support people struggling to get by on low incomes, and to protect individual and public health."
Her warning comes as pharmacists in Canberra say demand for the rapid tests is stagnant even as the health authorities warn daily cases of COVID could double or even treble to 3000 within weeks.
Some pharmacists said people with mild symptoms were already deciding not to test because they feared a positive result. The risk then was infected people continuing to work, spreading the virus.
"People don't get tested because they don't like the result," said pharmacist Pascal Onyekwere, of PharmaSave in Woden.
Other pharmacists echoed the theory.
"For some people, there's a need to earn an income. If you've got mild symptoms, you may choose not to test," said the president of the ACT branch of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Simon Blacker.
"It's hard."
The cost of catching COVID is now rising. Free tests for the poorest and oldest will end at the end of the month. The federal pandemic leave disaster payment ended on June 30.
Under the latter scheme, people who missed work after testing positive or who came in close contact with an infected person could get $750 - but no longer.
Trade unions said ending the disaster payment meant some people would not test.
"This decision will result in workers working while they are sick," said Michele O'Neil, the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
The new federal Labor government said the decision not to extend the schemes was taken for financial reasons.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers told reporters: "We have tried to be up front with people and say that some of these important programs that have existed in the recent past, which are designed to end in the near future, we can't afford to extend all of them."
In contrast to the stagnant demand for paid-for testing kits, demand for the free ones had risen sharply in the past few days, as low-income people realised the deadline for free kits was approaching.
Pharmacies said there was an "ample supply" of tests. "There will be no shortage, regardless of what happens," Mr Blacker said.
There may be a complex range of factors behind the lack of demand for rapid antigen tests.
They are thought to be less reliable as the virus mutates.
Cost has come down steeply since the furore six months ago when companies were accused of price gouging. But the price is still significant for, say, a family on low income.
"The cost was averaging $24-25 per test in January, they're now down to about $8 a test," the federal Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, said on the radio in Melbourne.
While the demand for rapid tests is stagnant, demand for anti-viral drugs which soften the symptoms of COVID has "gone up significantly in the past week", Mr Blacker said.
Some Canberra pharmacies were out of stock at the beginning of the week but he thought the shelves would be full by the end of the week.