Hotel quarantine not above reproach
Fifty-five days in NSW without a locally acquired COVID-19 case was a pretty good run.
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It speaks to the efficacy of many of the measures that have been put in place to reduce the number of outbreaks and contain them when they occur.
Those measures are a complex web of testing, tracing and quarantining (and now, finally, vaccination), and so familiar have they become that even us un-sciencey types now speak with somewhat exaggerated familiarity of terms like 'antibody testing' and 'viral shedding'.
But evidently the net still has a hole or two, and once again it is hotel quarantine that has let slip a live one.
No system is perfect and hotel quarantine will always play a fundamental part in our COVID-19 containment (despite megastars like Ed Sheeran who apparently get to 'self-isolate', according to reports).
But no system is above reproach either, and we should call out the flaws when we see them.
In this case, the casualisation of the workforce plays a part, with the infected security guard working at two different quarantine hotels.
Presumably that wasn't for the variety or change in scenery, but because he couldn't get enough shifts at one place.
As Labor health spokesman Ryan Park said on Monday, "It's no good building a fortress if we end up leaving the back door open."
It may have slipped your attention, but this Friday, March 19, marks the day 2,700 passengers disembarked the Ruby Princess in Sydney.
It's hard to imagine what Australia's coronavirus experience would have looked like without that first, colossal mistake.
By March 31, at least 440 passengers across Australia had tested positive to the disease, with five deaths.
It's been a steep learning curve since then, but we can't afford to rest on our laurels.
Criticising hotel quarantine doesn't mean we want to open the doors to all arrivals willy-nilly, Ruby Princess-style. It just means we still don't have the best system in place, and must keep trying.
- Michelle Haines Thomas