'Even prisoners get fresh air': Inside Australia's 'lucky dip' hotel quarantine system
Sydney (CNN) — When my plane finally touched down in Sydney, I was overwhelmed by a sense of disbelief.
After
learning two of my family members had become seriously ill, I spent
over six months planning what seemed like an impossible journey from
Europe home to Australia.
A
series of flight cancellations and hours spent reading horror stories
from stranded citizens abroad who had lost jobs, visas and homes while
waiting for a flight had left me convinced I would never make it.
Taking
advantage of its geographic isolation, Australia closed its borders to
international travelers early in the pandemic and barred most citizens
from leaving. Under the current restrictions, only passport holders,
permanent residents and those coming in on business or study exemptions
are permitted to enter.
A
hotel quarantine scheme run by state governments has been in place
since March 2020, and it is widely regarded as playing a key role in
Australia's successful containment of Covid-19.
Australia has improsed a strict cap on arrivals, allowing only 6,362 people to enter the country per week.
Hannah Ritchie/CNN
Crucially, Australia's hotel quarantine system is also supported by a strictly enforced cap on weekly international arrivals.
The
arrival caps, which currently allow 6,362 arrivals nationally per week,
have created a bottleneck of stranded Australians forced to compete for
a limited number of seats.
In order to make flights commercially viable, airlines prioritize selling business and first-class tickets at a premium,
and some passengers have reportedly paid upwards of $20,000 AUD
(roughly $16,000 USD) for a one-way business class ticket to fly into
Sydney from various European cities.
Nearly 40,000 Australians are still trying to return according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
Due
to the cap on arrivals, I was one of just three people to secure an
economy class seat on my flight from Zurich to Singapore, and one of a
dozen or so to make it onward to Sydney.
Luck of the draw
Arriving passengers are greeted by officials then transported to a quarantine hotel by bus.
Hannah Ritchie/CNN
It
doesn't matter if you flew first class, or economy like I did. Money
and circumstance play almost no role in determining which hotel
travelers will be assigned to.
Everyone
must pay $3,000 AUD, (roughly $2,330 USD) per room, with an additional
charge of $1,000 AUD (roughly $775 USD) for every extra person, and $500
AUD (roughly $390 USD) per child.
Food
is included in the quarantine fee, with passengers receiving three
meals per day to their hotel room door. Whether you end up in a lavish
suite with gourmet meals and harbor views, or a cramped, windowless room
with inedible fare, all comes down to luck.
On
arrival into Sydney my flight was greeted by members of the state
police, army, navy and air force, before everyone was loaded onto a bus
without open windows. After approximately an hour of waiting onboard, we
drove off into the night, but were not told our final destination.
Every
passenger on my flight ended up quarantining at the Sheraton Grand Hyde
Park Sydney, a very comfortable five-star hotel offering city views.
Like most urban hotels though, my room -- while luxurious -- did not
have opening windows or a balcony, which meant I couldn't access fresh
air for 14 days.
In recent months, breaches in Australia's quarantine system
in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth have occurred,
leading to a spate of infections among hotel staff, cleaners and
security guards. These have raised concerns over the lack of ventilation
within city hotels, and the heightened risk that poses in terms of
aerosol transmission.
In
early February, there were two incidents of guest-to-guest transmission
in hotels, after a woman in Melbourne reportedly contracted the virus
from a family located in a room across the hotel hallway, and in a
separate incident, a traveler in Sydney tested positive two days after
leaving quarantine, indicating that he likely caught the virus during
the final days of his stay, rather than it being a rare late-blooming
infection.
Charging a premium for rooms with access to fresh air is common practice among hotels.
Hannah Ritchie/CNN
Considering these recent outbreaks, and how highly transmissible new strains entering the country, such as the B.1.1.7 variant are, access to fresh air was the only thing I had hoped for in my hotel assignment.
When
I asked guest services at the Sheraton about the possibility of moving
to a room with balcony access, I was advised it would cost an extra $400
AUD per night to upgrade.
Speaking
with several other travelers who have gone through the quarantine
system in Sydney, I learned that charging a premium for rooms with
access to fresh air was common practice among hotels, as a way to
increase profit margins.
I
contacted the Marriott International, which owns the Sheraton Grand
hotel, to ask about this practice, but received no response.
Despite
the lack of fresh air, my overall experience in quarantine was
relatively positive. The staff were kind, the room was comfortable and I
was provided with a desk to work at. Other travelers I spoke to,
however, were not as fortunate.
Amelia
Seeto spent $28,500 AUD (roughly $22,130 USD) on mandatory quarantine
and flights for her family of four to get home to Sydney from the UK.
Despite traveling with two highly active toddlers, she says her and her
husband were placed in a small room in Sydney's Mantra Hotel, with no
opening windows or a balcony.
"The
system is flawed and unfair," she said. "They put families in rooms
that are substandard while the best rooms stay empty. Hotel management
told me they had all these empty rooms on the top floors but we couldn't
move there because everyone gets allocated to their floors."
Passengers flying into Australia have no idea which hotel they will be assigned to.
Hannah Ritchie/CNN
Seeto
says she tried to appeal to the New South Wales Police stationed at her
hotel, who were in charge of approving any accommodation changes, to
allow her family to move into a room with access to fresh air, but her
requests were denied.
"I
was in a room with no balcony and two screen-free little boys who
needed fresh air. The nurses appealed to the police to move us and their
claim was rejected twice," Seeto said via phone.
Anastasia
Aubert also traveled to Sydney with a family of four in February, but
unlike Seeto, she said her experience was "very positive," as her family
were given a large apartment with two balconies at the Meriton Suites
Pitt Street, which came with a full kitchen and laundry facilities.
The
most common hotel quarantine complaints among other travelers I spoke
with related to the lack of fresh air, suitable ventilation in rooms and
the quality of the food being served.
Anthony,
who requested CNN only use his first name, quarantined at the Novotel
Sydney Central in December after flying to Australia from New York. He
said via email that his hotel room was visibly dirty on arrival, and
that the ventilation was so poor he had trouble breathing.
"The
air conditioning unit in my room had no fresh air provision, I looked
into the ceiling and saw no ductwork connected. I took out the filter
and it was caked with dirt. The condition of my room was unsanitary with
urine on the toilet. I had to clean the toilet and the air filter
myself."
Anthony
says he requested to be moved to a room with an operable window or
balcony after experiencing tightness in his chest from the lack of
ventilation, and eventually his request was approved.
He
was so disturbed by his overall experience though, that he says he
wrote to Australia's Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, and the New South
Wales Ombudsman -- the state's watchdog tasked with addressing problems
in government agencies -- to lodge a formal complaint.
"The
conditions of the hotel rooms do not comply with minimum international
standards for detainees -- even prisoners get fresh air," Anthony wrote
in his letter, citing section 11(a) of the United Nations Standard
Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which stipulates that
prison windows "shall be large enough to enable the prisoners to read or
work by natural light, and constructed so they can allow the entrance
of fresh air whether or not there is artificial ventilation."
The
New South Wales Ombudsman was unable to investigate Anthony's complaint
however, as while the quarantine system is run by the state government,
the Ombudsman has no authority to investigate private businesses that are involved in running it.
CNN has reached out to Novotel owner Accor for a response to his claims.
Not a fan of the food? Fortunately, travelers in quarantine are allowed to receive care packages.
Hannah Ritchie/CNN
Professor
Jason Monty, head of Melbourne University's Mechanical Engineering
department, has spent months analyzing airflow systems across medical
wards in Victoria, and is considered a leader in the study of how poor
ventilation can influence aerosolized transmission of Covid-19
particles.
Monty
said that from an infection-control standpoint, the ventilation in most
city hotels is extremely poor, and that state governments should start
investing in open-air quarantine facilities, such as the Howard Springs
facility in the Northern Territory, which is a former gas plant workers'
village now being used to house those returning from overseas.
"Hotels
often have what's called positive pressure in their rooms, which means
air is trying to get out because the ventilation system is weak," he
said.
"That
air usually has two ways out: either through the door or through a
window. If you close the windows it only has one way out and that's
through the door.
"It's
a gap in the system that we've been pushing pretty hard for the
government to respond to since, June-July 2020," he added, referencing
the recent cluster outbreaks in several hotel quarantine settings.
How other countries compare
Global qurantine measures vary dramatically. Some places force incoming travelers to wear tracking devices.
Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images
Many countries have implemented enforced mandatory quarantine or self-isolation upon arrival since early on in the pandemic, however some are far stricter than others.
In
South Korea, travelers are required to self-quarantine for 14 days, but
can do so in a private setting as long as it is deemed suitable by
state authorities. Those who fail to organize appropriate accommodation
are put into government-run facilities at their own expense.
Hong Kong tightened its already strict quarantine measures in December 2020. Incoming residents must now book a room and board for 21 days at one of 36 pre-approved hotels
chosen by the government, one of the strictest quarantine measures in
the world. Travelers are able to select an accommodation based on their
budget/room preferences.
Thailand,
which has recently re-opened its borders to tourists willing to
quarantine for 14 days, provides a long list of government-approved
quarantine hotels that guests can stay in at their own expense.
The approved options are accessed via an online portal, and travelers can search for hotels based on budget, location, size and available in-house facilities.
All
travelers -- including British citizens -- who arrive in England from
"high-risk" coronavirus countries now have to quarantine in hotels for
up to 10 days, but supervised departures from the rooms are permitted
for fresh air.
Like Thailand, the UK government offers a list of approved options, however the cost of the hotel quarantine is fixed.
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