QUARANTINE PROTOCOLS

IT’S baffling that there are not strict national guidelines and best practice when it comes to handling hotel quarantine in the different states of Australia. Hotel quarantine is our only defence in preventing imported cases of coronavirus from spreading through the broader community.

Yet every recent Australian outbreak can be traced back to flaws at the frontline.

Back in June last year, the Victorian government’s mismanagement led to the country’s second wave.

As well as the state being plunged into a protracted lockdown, the outbreak ultimately led to nearly 800 deaths and 18,000 infections.

In November, Adelaide was forced into lockdown after a hotel quarantine worker contracted the virus and there were fears it could have spread further.

Fast forward to January and 2.5 million people across greater Brisbane went into lockdown after a hotel worker contracted the British strain of coronavirus. This week, West Australians have experienced the same fate.

It was revealed this week that security guards were not required to wear masks on hotel quarantine floors in Perth.

We all remember the awkward exchanges as Victorian officials were probed about who ran their hotel quarantine and why. There is still no national rule about quarantine workers not working second jobs.

On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the number of international arrivals coming into Australia would increase.

At the same time Victorian authorities are frantically contact-tracing after a quarantine worker tested positive for the virus.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly said “human error” in hotel quarantine was a concern but that “we’ve seen only a small number of incursions from quarantine”.

Each incursion is a massive risk, shattering the collective confidence of the nation and causing cagey premiers to slam shut their borders.

When Tasmania agreed to take repatriation flights, Premier Peter Gutwein was wise to also introduce support so that quarantine workers would not have to work a second job.

Then Premier Gutwein made an even smarter move. Pre-empting the possibility our state may stuff up high-risk hotel quarantine cases, he swapped our repatriation flights with Victoria to instead take low-risk fruit pickers from the Pacific Islands. That gives Tasmania an extra level of protection against these highly infectious strains.

Of course, states need to do their bit to provide facilities for people to enter Australia, but now we’ve had more than nine months to learn from.

There should be national standards in hotel quarantine.