THE SQUIZ
Yep, the Labor leader is off the campaign trail and in isolation at his Sydney home, adding many degrees of difficulty to his efforts to become Australia’s next prime minister. Anthony Albanese tweeted just after 6.30pm yesterday that he’d done “a routine PCR test this afternoon ahead of interstate travel to Western Australia” that came back positive. He says he has been testing regularly for COVID, and his team say he has not had any symptoms. Yesterday, Albanese was in the marginal Labor-held seat of Gilmore, and he visited an aged care home in Nowra – with a face mask on. The facility’s managers say they will now “take precautions which include testing, cleaning and monitoring for symptoms”.

SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
It means a lot of zoom’d in press conferences and interviews for the major party leader. He will continue to campaign from home, and it’s expected that senior Labor team members – think deputy leader Richard Marles, Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers, Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong – will take the lead on the ground. Labor figures have been keen to point out that they have a contingency plan for this very scenario, and it’s already in play with the press pack that had been travelling with Albanese going to Perth last night ahead of today’s events. Note: PM Scott Morrison had COVID last month, and he continued to take meetings and give interviews from home. As he was stuck in iso, Albanese toured marginal seats across the country. So what’s good for the goose…

DOES THIS HARM LABOR’S CHANCES OF GETTING ELECTED? 
It’s a good question and one we probably won’t be able to answer until after it’s run and done on 21 May. The coverage this morning has quotes from unnamed Labor sources saying the positive is that Albanese will be able to hit the airwaves and do a stack of talkback radio and TV interviews in a way that’s difficult while on the campaign trail. And the glass-half-full view is also that Labor’s senior team will be on show, and voters will be able to see more of the bench strength on offer. Less flattering is the suggestion that it’s a “blessing in disguise” after a shaky start to Albanese’s campaign. But it’s not ideal, and other Labor sources say the only good thing about it is that it ­happened “in the second week and not last week of the ­campaign”.