As an epidemiologist I don’t think slashing overseas arrivals is justifiable
Our already small number of overseas arrivals in Australia has been drastically cut after a push from state premiers. They argued it was needed because of ongoing problems with the hotel quarantine system and the increased threat posed by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
On the surface this appeared to be a sensible response to the risk that is posed to the community when we bring home those from countries where Covid-19 is circulating, taking into account the far from perfect hotel quarantine system in Australia.
However, this decision requires more serious scrutiny, both in terms of its rationale as well as examining what it says about us as Australians and what our values are. As an epidemiologist and proud Australian, I don’t think where we have landed on this policy is justifiable.
When we consider this issue of overseas arrivals, it is important to not lose sight of the fact that we are talking about returning Australian citizens and permanent residents and that many of these individuals have been stranded overseas since the beginning of the pandemic. Some of these individuals are in real and immediate danger of being infected with Covid and are in situations where, if they were to be infected, they do not have access to the medical supports that we have access to.
Australians in India who are at risk of a rampaging Delta variant would be better off in Australia where our health system is able and ready to care for them if they have it. This could be done without spreading it through the community.
Other Australians overseas, who may be in less dire situations, have been away from family, even their own children, for an unbearably long time.
It’s worth putting our approach into some perspective by highlighting that
most countries in the world, including the US and the UK, have recognised the right of their own citizens and residents to return home. New Zealand has taken a similar approach to us in all aspects of its pandemic response, although once the Trans-Tasman bubble was opened with Australia it began a public campaign telling citizens in other parts of the world – including India - to come home and there was plenty of room in their hotel quarantine system.
In Australia we shouldn’t accept the notion that we have a binary choice between bringing people back or securing our safety at home. Nor should we accept that the virus, and now the Delta variant, is so infectious that there is nothing we can do but throw our arms up in despair.
Both of these arguments represent a shirking of our responsibilities. No one is saying that any of these issues are easy to solve but the reality is that we should be in a much better situation than we are right now when it comes to our quarantine system and we should have been able to bring more Australians back home than we have.
What is needed is a more nuanced, risk-based approach in the way we manage our borders. We need to take into account that the risk of infection is different for different countries and also that it is different when individuals are vaccinated. Doing this will allow for a more flexible approach in the way we manage quarantine, and a move to home quarantine for those who pose a low risk of spreading infection. This will in turn allow us to expand our capacity for receiving overseas arrivals.
It has been announced there will be a pilot of home quarantine in South Australia. I am not sure why we have to pilot this and why we can’t just move straight into this approach for low-risk returnees and those who are vaccinated.
In addition to continuing the predeparture testing of return travellers, we also need to explore the feasibility of vaccinating all return travellers before departure. And of course all of this can occur while we, at the same time, continue to improve the way we manage hotel quarantine and build dedicated quarantine facilities as quickly as possible.
The broader question in the decision to cut our capacity for overseas return travellers until next year is, of course, how does this fit in with our national identity? We have always prided ourselves on our values of mateship and looking after one another and these are the qualities that we feel separate us from other countries.
Now that we are 18 months into the pandemic, I do not think we can say we have done this when it comes to how we are treating Australians stranded overseas. Our approach feels like the opposite of this and we seem to be lacking in compassion and care for our fellow Australians.
The bottom line is that we can, and should, do more to prioritise bringing back Australians now. It is the right thing to do.
Dr Hassan Vally is an epidemiologist with experience in infectious disease epidemiology, food-borne disease research, nutrition, child health, asthma and Indigenous health