Hunter New England Health public health physician David Durrheim says the risk to those over the age of 70 or with other health problems is too high to allow them to mix with the general population until a vaccine is available.

"I would be very cautious," Dr Durrheim said.

"I think that the risks are that great that certainly, if one has elderly parents, you'd be advised, regardless of whatever relaxations there are, to rather isolate and make it easy for them, linking up with them socially by various technologies we have, dropping off groceries, talking over the garden fence.

"I think one would really want to try to protect them from this virus."

The prospect of not being able to return to normal interaction with their grandchildren for months or even years is devastating for couples like Eleebana retirees Sue and Peter Wallace.

The couple were heavily involved in the sporting lives of their eight grandchildren, aged 9 to 16, and enjoyed regular family gatherings until the virus struck.

Now, they are reduced to occasional "drive-bys" where their grandchildren wave hello from the safety of a car outside their house.

"That would affect us immensely," Mrs Wallace, 69, said of long-term isolation. "The sport, summer and winter, we help with transporting them to and from their training. They're our life."

The Wallaces are permanent fixtures on the sidelines at their grandchildren's netball, soccer, water polo, touch football, Australian rules and futsal games.

Asked how she would cope if the relative isolation stretched into next year, Mrs Wallace said: "I think I would find it very difficult.

"I'm not a silly person, and I wouldn't be going up hugging and kissing them all the time like I normally do.

"I would keep a social distance, but at least if I could stand on the sideline and watch them play or take my daughter to the Central Coast to play. If I couldn't do that, I really don't think I would cope."

The last time the family gathered was for a birthday celebration was in January.

"Every month we have a birthday, and some months two. Every birthday we celebrate together."

Mrs Wallace and her husband, who is 70, have been married for 50 years and have three children, all of whom live in Newcastle.

The family has gone on holiday together "forever" at Easter at a Forster water skiing park, but not this year.

At least 52 of the 66 people to have died from COVID-19 complications in Australia have been aged over 70.

Dr Durrheim said there were no easy solutions.

"There are groups where I think that the risks are that high, and we've seen people over the age of 70, people over the age of 60 with cardiac or respiratory chronic illnesses, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the age of 50, these are folk who do particularly poorly with COVID infection.

"I think we as a community need to make it as easy as possible for them to continue to live in relative isolation until hopefully we have an effective vaccine available."

Peter is on chemotherapy for bone marrow cancer, placing him at high risk of COVID-19 complications.

Mrs Wallace said she had talked to her husband about balancing the risks with maintaining quality of life.

"I have had a very, very good life, I feel, and if it takes me out, it takes me out," she said.

"But I wouldn't do anything silly to put my children or my grandchildren at risk. That's the part that worries me. I wouldn't want to be a transmitter to them."

Nelson Bay couple Geoff and Judy Washington live in an area with one of the highest median ages in NSW.

They missed spending Easter with their 14-year-old granddaughter, who lives in Sydney, but held a two-and-a-half-hour virtual lunch with relatives in Australia and overseas.

"We're very much in favour of being as careful as we can about going out and mingling," Mrs Washington, 78, said.

"We've seen what happens in other countries. Unless we take a strong stance here in Australia, we're not going to succeed."

She acknowledged that older people could face extended isolation of 18 months or more.

"It could be. It's hard to know. They're talking about six months at the moment, and that's a long time."

Mr Washington, 77, said he was a "bit of an optimist" when it came to a way out of the pandemic.

"I watch what's going on towards achieving a vaccine," he said. "So much effort is going into it that something will come up. No point getting depressed about a two-year wait."

Mrs Washington is writing a book on the family's history and Mr Washington is busy with volunteer work for Tomaree Ratepayers and Residents Association.

"Nelson Bay's probably a nice place to be in that you can go for exercise, if you're careful how you do it," Mrs Washington said.

But she was aware that other retirees with younger grandchildren were feeling the loss of contact.

"We were talking to someone who's just had a new baby in Sydney, and they're so sad they're not able to see or hold the new baby.

"That is very difficult. They can look at him on the phone, but they were saying they were longing to hold the new baby and saying, 'When's it going to end?'"

Photographer Marina Neil has endured the pain of watching her mother, Hetty, develop dementia in her sixties and is now among the many excluded from visiting relatives in nursing homes.

Neither Ms Neil nor her father, John, can enter Uniting Lindsay Gardens at Hamilton, where Hetty, 70, now lives.

"It's been a big adjustment. Mum's only been in care for about six weeks," Ms Neil said. "We've sort of gone from having her with us to making that decision to put her into a facility.

"Initially from being able to see her every day for as long as we want, it's sort of gone from that to having a little 15-minute chat through a window. It's been a bit hard.

"There's a lot of frail people in those places. We're happy to abide by those rules to keep Mum and everyone else safe in there."

New Lambton retired psychologist Christine Johnson said she had drawn some positives from the situation.

She said friends and family had been reaching out to each other much more by Skype and phone, and "not just a quick five-minute 'How are you going' and that's it".

"The conversations have been really substantial ones, because you know you're not going to see each other," she said.

"I've noticed people, as you walk past at a suitable social distance, are much more communicative. They'll say 'Good morning, hello.'

"There's a lot of this 'we're in this together' type of attitude, and a lot of pleasant interactions with people being helpful.

"There are some nicer things I see happening, people being more thoughtful."

Ms Johnson said she was accustomed to living on her own and had music and other interests to keep her busy.

"I'm not sure about a year not being able to play in the band or orchestra, but it doesn't stop me playing. There'll be definite gaps, things like going to Sydney for the symphony concerts.

"I shall miss all those kind of activities where you're in a group together or part of an audience or participating in something."

She said the "question mark" of when it would be safe for high-risk people to mix with others would create anxiety for some.

"Where you have your usual ways of doing things you enjoy, whether it be swimming or group things, fear can get in the way of all those things restarting.

"It's not necessarily an age thing. It's more about the person and their temperament and ability to adapt."

Dr Durrheim said older people would have to balance the "risk and benefit" of their interactions.

"I wouldn't encourage them to become hermits. If they can get out and have a walk in the park with the dog, fantastic, or speaking over the fence at a healthy distance."

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