COVID-19 Outbreaks: Why Quarantine Hotels in Australia Could Be a New Problem

Previously, Australia’s quarantine hotels were a solution to the country’s COVID-19 prevention efforts. Now, the same quarantine hotels have become a challenge – if not a cause – for the current outbreaks, The Guardian reported. What changed?

For months, Australia’s COVID-19 defenses have contained outbreaks. No more. The country is currently struggling to manage its worst epidemics to date, the Deseret News reported.

• Most of Australia is currently on lockdown, according to CNBC. Sydney, the capital, has further extended its lockdown.
• Australia reported its first local death of the year on Monday, The Hill said.

What is a quarantine hotel?

Australia’s quarantine hotels are part of the country’s quarantine system, CNN reported. Australian citizens or permanent residents returning to the country from overseas have been required to self-quarantine at specific dedicated hotels.

“There is now a broad consensus (that) quarantine in hotels is an inadequate and indeed dangerous approach,” said Driss Ait Ouakrim, epidemiologist at the University of Melbourne.

• “It was a good quick and dirty fix in April 2020, but since then we have seen and suffered the limitations of such a system,” he said by The Guardian.

What are the limits of quarantine hotels?

In total, Australia has recorded up to 30 violations – or cases of COVID-19 – of its quarantine system, The Guardian reported. Of these, 20 took place this year. Increasingly, these breaches are coming from quarantined hotel guests in adjacent or neighboring rooms.

• As of early May, seven of the 12 COVID-19 cases that have violated quarantine hotels have involved the delta strain, according to The Guardian.
• A violated COVID-19 case led to outbreaks and subsequent lockdown in Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Why are quarantine hotels not so effective?

Quarantine hotels have not maintained their efficiency as the challenges of containing COVID-19 continued to change, the BBC reported. Experts have started to wonder if new, more transmissible variants might require longer or stricter quarantines, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Using quarantine hotels “was a good strategy for Australia’s first 6 to 12 months, giving us time,” University of Victoria professor Maximilian de Courten told The Guardian.

• “But this is not a solution, nor sufficient for the moment and for the foreseeable future. We need a better and more holistic approach to COVID, ”he said.

What will Australia use instead of quarantine hotels?

Australia has developed two alternatives to hotel quarantines: home quarantines or a specific quarantine facility, according to the Wall Street Journal.

• The country could start allowing home quarantine for some travelers, especially the vaccinated, The Guardian said.
• Australia has also started planning for a specially designed quarantine center to use for international arrivals, according to the Wall Street Journal.