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The suggestion that it is unsafe to run hotel quarantine because of the B117 strain and other new variants is.... not proven.
If we accept the outbreak is due to the nebuliser - that's a one-off, very easy to fix issue. It doesn't mean the system is unable to cope.
If we accept the outbreak is due to the nebuliser - that's a one-off, very easy to fix issue. It doesn't mean the system is unable to cope.
That doesn't mean there will never be outbreaks, but that's why Vic tests daily, even now when people aren't working, and has put in place N95 masks for people on the floor, and has re-upped warnings on nebulisers and other machines.
The failsafes have been updated.
The failsafes have been updated.
Andrews says he will announce when/how many flights will resume at a later point.
There haven been dozens of people with the UK strain, and people with the South African strain, who have completed hotel quarantine safely without onward transmission, in every state.
It can and is done safely.
It can and is done safely.
That doesn't nullify the political risk, particularly in Victoria, of an outbreak from hotel quarantine. This government is particularly vulnerable to that.
But we need to separate the political risk of an outbreak from hotel quarantine and the actual medical debate about whether the system is safe.
Overwhelmingly, experts say, it is – and Victoria has more safeguards now than any other state.
Overwhelmingly, experts say, it is – and Victoria has more safeguards now than any other state.
Either your system is safe and you have confidence in it, or it isn't. And if it is, you can keep accepting flights.
Obviously, yes, quarantine is a federal head of power and, yes, Australia should have set about making purpose-built facilities 12 months ago, but it didn't and this is the system we've got.
You can and should have that argument while also helping people return home now.
You can and should have that argument while also helping people return home now.
