Two plane loads of people forced to spend Christmas in quarantine

[Jacaranda75]

Because of ONE person testing positive on their flight. They are now all classed as close contacts. This is in Australia.

www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-15/qld-coronavirus-covid-virgin-flight-plane-quarantine-townsville/100699744

I feel so sorry for these people. Probably just flying home to QLD to spend Christmas with their families, now forced to spend Christmas alone in a shitty hotel.

I'm not sure why anyone's doing two weeks anymore; it was the initial cautious timeline that it 'might take up to 14 days' for symptoms to appear before they could be sure, but now 10 days is more than enough. With Delta I think it shows up within 4 or 5 days if it's going to, and Omicron even less.

@Lockheart have you any idea how big Australia is? Clearly not !

@Bussinbussin I think you can only quarantine in a hotel or government quarantine. When you're at home, it's called isolation. I think so, anyway. I hope the papers are wrong and these people can get to spend time with their families.

[quote Jacaranda75]@Lockheart have you any idea how big Australia is? Clearly not ![/quote]
Brisbane to Newcastle would be 8.5 hours by road, so coach ride would not exactly be impossible! I've done longer train journeys down to Cornwall from London.

Regardless, 8.5 hours is much, much shorter than 14 whole days in quarantine.

@Lockheart and you'd stand much more of a chance of catching Covid during 8.5 hours on a coach than you would in 2 hours on a plane!

[quote Jacaranda75]@Lockheart and you'd stand much more of a chance of catching Covid during 8.5 hours on a coach than you would in 2 hours on a plane![/quote]
Sure, but I thought the mandatory-14-days-in-a-hotel was peculiar to flights(?), in which case it makes sense to avoid getting one.

I'm sure a lot of the people on the flight could have hired a car and driven, that would have reduced the risk hugely!

I sympathise, but the rules on entering Australia are clear (ask the England cricket team) and those travellers understood those rules when they chose to board the aircraft.

[quote Jacaranda75]@Bussinbussin I think you can only quarantine in a hotel or government quarantine. When you're at home, it's called isolation. I think so, anyway. I hope the papers are wrong and these people can get to spend time with their families.[/quote]
I had to isolate at home following a close contact and all the health department emails referred to it as quarantine. That was in Victoria though.

www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/protect-yourself-others/quarantine/home-quarantine

I'm assuming the one passenger was on both flights mentioned, transiting through Brisbane to Townsville, so a 21 hour drive, give or take.

No sympathy here either. DH hasn’t been home to the UK in 3 years (due to travel right as pandemic started). It stinks but it is what it is. When we book as a family we’ll be assuming worst case including the rules changing while we’re away. It’s incredibly naive at this stage to expect anything else. You can complain all you like but I don’t think the virus is listening and what else are you accomplishing?

@Linguini

I don't really have a huge amount of sympathy to be honest. There is a pandemic, they should have planned for the possibility of 14 days quarantine and booked with that in mind.

That’s pretty harsh. My daughter has grandparents and other family in Australia that she has not seen in three years. Can you imagine what that feels like?

You choose to travel at the moment you take the risks...simple

I’m in NSW and have family in QLD and VIC. No way am I getting on a flight, madness as too risky. When I visit it will be driving. I’d much rather a 10-12hr trip so if it looks like State borders are closing I can bolt to the car and speed off to get over the border before it shuts. If I had family in far north QLD, WA etc then this wouldn’t be feasible as even if you drove it takes days and no way could you make it back across State borders before they shut so in that case I would be putting it off still as just too risky. Who knows when it won’t be but you either take the gamble and don’t whinge if you lose or get lucky or choose not to gamble.

The current rules for Queensland (since Monday) require 14 days home quarantine on arrival anyway, if fully vaccinated. And nothing in the article says that they have to hotel quarantine. So I’m not sure this is really much of a story, unless they have to go to a hotel and the article has failed to say that (which is a big oversight).

Feel sorry as individuals but Australia is being incredible strict for a reason. If you want a holiday then you accept the risks. I’ll not want go to be possible ill in an hotel room all on my own, was bad enough at home. I’m sure if you must go holiday or decide return home for family visit you factor in extra expense or just decide you can’t take the risk.

They must have realised it was a possibility in current circumstances 🤷‍♀️

These kind of crazy rules is why we have decided not to book any holidays abroad at the moment.
Honestly how much more of this lunacy are people going to take.

@MissAmbrosia, this is what is holding me back from planning a trip to the UK next year from North America even though I desperately want to see my family. What if I test positive on arrival and spend 2 weeks in quarantine far from home?

Looks like the Premier has backflipped and is now in line with other States

My daughter has grandparents and other family in Australia that she has not seen in three years. Can you imagine what that feels like?

Plenty of people living overseas from family go for three or more years without seeing them - not everyone can afford, or even wants, to travel to the other side of the world every one or two years!

I feel so sorry for them. I can't believe how harsh and unsympathetic some posters on here are being
This is what the last two years have done. People have become blinkered, and lost their ability to feel empathy.
I agree OP, and I think it's crazy. If they've all tested negative, and take another test in a few days, they're clearly negative. Locking them away for 14 days is excessive and cruel, when they're clearly no risk to anyone

@WanderingFruitWonderer

I feel so sorry for them. I can't believe how harsh and unsympathetic some posters on here are being This is what the last two years have done. People have become blinkered, and lost their ability to feel empathy. I agree OP, and I think it's crazy. If they've all tested negative, and take another test in a few days, they're clearly negative. Locking them away for 14 days is excessive and cruel, when they're clearly no risk to anyone

Unfortunately, it isn't excessive, and isn't meant to be cruel. You're using emotive language here. You state that they are "clearly no risk to anyone," but they may be harbouring Covid. Queensland has a vulnerable First Nations population, and any Covid infection going through there would be devastating. This is one of the reasons for Qld's tighter Covid policies.

If they test after the possible incubation period is over (about a week), then they are no risk to anyone. Two weeks is ridiculously excessive. I also don't see why they can't isolate at home.
Also, the First Nations people of Australia have always been treated appallingly. So I'm not sure Australian authorities can now pretend to care about them. If the entire world lived in harmony with nature, as the aboriginal people always did, then Covid would never have happened in the first place...

I live in Western Australia and haven't seen my folks for three years. I won't be travelling to see them this year either, because of all the uncertainty around it at the minute. No need to feel sorry for me though, we have been living a covid free existence for most of the last two years, because of the strict border controls and quarantine requirements, I think we had a total of 12 days lockdown. Its just the price we have had to pay, and it has saved a lot of lives, and I am very grateful for that.