Mandatory hotel quarantine in the UK

[Circumlocutious]

There was the New Zealand thread which touched on this, but I thought it’s helpful to have a more targeted discussion. Mandatory hotel quarantine for all UK arrivals, likely to be signed off on tomorrow.

Twitter thread from FT journalist discussing some of the complex aspects involved:

mobile.twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1353657496716660737

Do you think it’ll ‘work’? (presumably its main purpose is to stop new covid variants from coming in). Why / why not?

Australia has had 909 deaths from COVID since the start of the pandemic whilst the UK has had more than that per day on several days in the last month.

I don't know why the UK didn't close the borders last March but whatever the reason I think that the situation we have now is the worst of both worlds - horrific death count and ruined economy.

I think hotel quarantine for the most high risk countries is sensible and a good extra measure we don’t currently have. Last year we just had basic quarantine that not many stuck to. Now we have mandatory tests before arrival, still have quarantine and now hotel quarantine for high risk countries, so a lot better than before. It would make sense to combine this with stricter quarantine for all other countries though, I liked the idea of enforced at home quarantine where you have to respond within 20 minutes each day with a photo of yourself in your quarantine location.

About time. So late!

If anyone is interested I found these leaflets about Australian Quarantine informative and quite shocking.

www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2020/12/getting-ready-for-quarantine-a-guide-to-the-final-step-in-coming-home-a-guide-to-the-final-step-in-coming-home-part-1-before-you-depart_0.pdf

www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2020/12/getting-ready-for-quarantine-a-guide-to-the-final-step-in-coming-home-a-guide-to-the-final-step-in-coming-home-part-2-when-you-re-in-quarantine_0.pdf

I think covid is here to stay and there is no point in closing borders now it is firmly in place in the uk. Much like the flu, vaccines will just have to adapt to each changing virulent strain and we should all be getting on with our lives. We are already facing the fallout of what will be about 18 months to 2 years of economic neglect without causing food, goods, workforce and tourist shortages by further restricting movement across borders.
The world is now a global place and humans need to adapt to that fact and not hide away from it. Any countries that close themselves off risk being left behind, just look at the delay New Zealand are facing being last in the queue for the vaccines.

Any countries that close themselves off risk being left behind
Left behind from what though?

I honestly think that most NZ citizens are quite happy knowing that the risk of contracting COVID is pretty much non-existent and many Kiwis are enjoying exploring NZ without tourists from overseas.

Only 25 people have died from COVID in NZ so why would they care about being left behind?

Sorry, I forgot to add that in Australia only two exemptions to mandatory quarantine have been granted since March 2020.

One of these was Dannii Minogue's exemption on medical grounds.

m blue in the face from explaining this but it isn't the same. You can see them in an emergency. My dd was in ICU for 6 days two years ago and it was the scariest time of my life. My mum jumped on a plane and was there five hours later. She pulled through but we were prepared by docs etc.

You will be able to see yours in an emergency. I won't. But the bloody politicians will, and the footballers will, and the influencers "working" in Dubai will”

Unfortunately, I won’t. At 81and of very sound mind, she is refusing any visitors at all (sensibly). In a medical emergency, I wouldn’t be allowed in to see her anyway, even if I could. Which I can’t because my husband is CEV. Of course I love my mum but she wouldn’t want me to put his life at risk either, even if I were prepared to (which I’m not). So unfortunately I am in pretty much the same boat as you because of circumstances, as you are.
It’s incredibly difficult for so many people.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat, door can only be opened when getting your food, deliveries, sheets. The whole idea is to reduce any form of contact. Leaving the door open just increases the opportunity for transmission...

I did 14 days in a room without a window that opens, let alone a balcony. Was a challenge, but bearable.

My DD has just done quarantine in Australia. She came in on a repatriation flight to the NT. It was brilliantly well organised from start to finish and they were well looked after.
She was tested two days prior to the flight, then again on landing (2 people who had previously been negative, tested positive), then they were taken by bus to the quarantine facility where they were given rooms with balconies they could sit on and talk to their neighbours. They were given iPads to use, prepaid Australian SIM cards, menus to choose their food from, bags of Aussie treats and even mini Christmas trees as they’d be still there over Christmas. They were checked on every day by the nursing team for health and welfare and were tested again on day 11. On day 14 they were taken back to Darwin, either the airport or city, whichever they preferred for their onward journeys.
DD said everyone was so lovely to them and really went out of their way to make it as comfortable and stress free as possible.
The only criticism I have is that there should be more capacity so more people can come home, but I think that is down to staffing restrictions rather than hotel/village availability.
The aircrews have to quarantine every time they come back into the country, so perhaps that limits the number of people who can come in too.

Don't most hotel rooms only open slightly, just enough to let in fresh air but not enough to fall out?
I would have thought so but perhaps they are concerned that it may make it easier to open further with force??

Any countries that close themselves off risk being left behind

We don’t feel left behind in Australia, either. We don’t have a health service and economy in disarray. My children are back at school tomorrow after their summer holiday. They’ve got a swim meet, nippers and athletics on over the weekend and swim training during the week.

It’ll take longer to vaccinate everyone who needs a vaccine but with the current border closures to last until next year there’s no hurry. My place of employment has offered me the first Pfizer in March, which of course I will be taking. Australia will also vaccinate as per the recommended schedule, there have been local immunologists worried that extending the interval as in the U.K. will effect efficacy.

When things open up again I don’t think Australia will go straight from testing and hotel quarantine to open entry through.

eagle Thank you for your post that is very informative. I am not sure anyone wishing to go on holiday could face going through that just for a holiday though, or a business trip.

It will kill the travel industry stone dead.

I honestly think that most NZ citizens are quite happy knowing that the risk of contracting COVID is pretty much non-existent and many Kiwis are enjoying exploring NZ without tourists from overseas

My sister lives in a part of Sydney that’s normally heaving with tourists in summer. She and other locals are loving having the beach to themselves . Less so the tourism industry, but then locals who normally go away over the holiday period have spent their money locally.

But people shouldn’t be going on holiday in a pandemic, and where possible business trips should be stopped unless impossible to do virtually.

With the problems with climate change looming over us (all but forgotten about at the moment) the travel industry would probably change anyway

I know feeling, it’s just not worth it. Not in time or money - it’s not a cheap option! Mind you, no one is going on holiday oversees at the moment and no one has been travelling for business until very recently, not even interstate. Not among my friends who work for large international companies (car companies, drug companies etc). Our travel industry was badly affected, but things seem to be coming back with the amount of domestic travel going on now (it’s the summer holidays here) and our government (Victoria) has a scheme where you’ll be given $200 if you take a holiday in regional Victoria and spend more than $400 on accommodation, tourist attractions etc to encourage people to holiday closer to home.
I agree though - airlines etc are having a very tough time and it’ll take years to recover.

I don't think anyone is actually thinking this through

You don't say

For everyone insisting "we should have done it in the spring", there was a graphic around then - now lost among all the rest - which identified in colour countries with or without restrictions. Eventually there was only the UK and Mexico without any, then Mexico finally brought some in leaving just us

Which is interesting when seen in the context of "it would have to be done properly" ...

@nolongersurprised

Any countries that close themselves off risk being left behind

We don’t feel left behind in Australia, either. We don’t have a health service and economy in disarray. My children are back at school tomorrow after their summer holiday. They’ve got a swim meet, nippers and athletics on over the weekend and swim training during the week.

It’ll take longer to vaccinate everyone who needs a vaccine but with the current border closures to last until next year there’s no hurry. My place of employment has offered me the first Pfizer in March, which of course I will be taking. Australia will also vaccinate as per the recommended schedule, there have been local immunologists worried that extending the interval as in the U.K. will effect efficacy.

When things open up again I don’t think Australia will go straight from testing and hotel quarantine to open entry through.

Your life sounds bliss at the moment!

We can only dream of kids getting back to sports clubs, swimming etc! Let alone school!!

We can only dream of kids getting back to sports clubs, swimming etc! Let alone school!!

We are grateful, definitely. And I’m not trying to be smug, i just get indignant with posters who talk of Aus/NZ being “shut off”, “left behind” and “closed” because it doesn’t feel like that at all.

It is helpful to know how it actually works in reality eagles and quite frankly the general feeling here is that our lives are never going to be normal unless we do something drastic like closing the borders properly.

We are going to end up in an endless cycle of covid lockdowns. So I do support some restrictions and border closure, however the impact on the aviation and travel industry greatly worries me. Travelling will become a thing of the past overnight.

@ineedaholidaynow

But people shouldn’t be going on holiday in a pandemic, and where possible business trips should be stopped unless impossible to do virtually.

With the problems with climate change looming over us (all but forgotten about at the moment) the travel industry would probably change anyway

I agree. I can't get excited about this. It's not great for people with family overseas, but if you can afford it, you can still go.

I am not keen on overcrowded holidays in the UK this summer, but if we lose the money from overseas tourists it will be partly (if not fully, given New Zealand's experience) compensated by home tourists. In Australia they also said that places like the Hunter wine region did much better out of domestic visitors than they would have done out of overseas tourists.

There are so many lovely places to go on holiday in the UK and unless we have a summer like 2012 (just to rub salt into the wound) the weather isn't as bad as people say.

Downside is we'll have the twonks leaving litter everywhere again.

@Indoctro

So those saying uk international workers should quarantine each time they return to uk , how to envision that is even possible

I don't think you are aware of the situation fully

Do you think people will just keep working and not see there home for the foreseeable

Just work then straight to hotel then back to work and back to hotel..??

Yeah I'm sure all your lorry drivers, oil workers, airline workers are going to do that

Would you do that...???

In Australia airline staff isolate when landing in Australia.

I would as I wouldn’t personally want to put anyonr else at risk.

Yes feeling, I agree. You only have to see how many job losses there have been already to know it’s going to take years to recover, and that’s if they have plenty of help from elsewhere. I’m sure the airlines based in the ME will probably survive because there’s so much money sloshing around there, but the smaller ones will struggle massively.
They’re all being incredibly flexible at the moment too. Endless free changes, mainly to encourage people to book, I think.
I hope the UK can get on top of it as soon as possible - my family is all there, and like so many others, we’d all like to see each other again!
Fingers crossed for the vaccines!

I do think it would be a good idea. My DD has been a nanny this year and she’s never travelled so much:- Spanish islands, south of France, Maldives and more. The family are quite wealthy but it would be the mandatory stay in a quarantine hotel that would stop their travelling. Enforced quarantine already had them change travel plans before (destination). This is just an example.

I’d like to see that it also encapsulates travel by private jet too as this has been used as loophole to get around some restrictions.

@nolongersurprised

We can only dream of kids getting back to sports clubs, swimming etc! Let alone school!!

We are grateful, definitely. And I’m not trying to be smug, i just get indignant with posters who talk of Aus/NZ being “shut off”, “left behind” and “closed” because it doesn’t feel like that at all.

I think it’s sour grapes and envy which makes them say that...