Five-star hotel quarantine: worse than a prison
Last week Juha Tuominen, Managing Director of the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS), would like to place the passengers returning to Finland under supervised quarantine now. That means two weeks at an airport hotel if they are experiencing symptoms.
In Finland still, returnees receive guidance in the form of announcements and informative brochures on the coronavirus (koronavirus, in Finnish), mitigation measures and treatment. The instructions also advise passengers to maintain a safe distance from other people and avoid close contact.
Then, those who are not experiencing any symptoms can go to their homes.
On the other hand, Australia has a new rule which estates that people returning to the country have to stay two weeks in hotel quarantine.
For example, in Sydney, quarantine passengers have been rushed by charter buses directly to five-star hotels in downtown.
According to the newspaper Daily Mail, residents do not have to pay a cent for their quarantine accommodation. In addition to the room, the state pays three meals a day for those arriving.
View of Sydney Harbour
People like the hotels condition. For example, Jarrod Whittaker from ABC said, “Our room at the InterContinental Hotel is extremely comfortable. The beds are great, the internet fast and we have a view of Sydney Harbour most people can only dream of.”
Jessica Pinili, a Perth lifestyle coach said on her Instagram account, “This hotel room practises non-smoking, awesome, that’s great.”
However, they complained about the situation. Whittaker said, “We can't leave our rooms. That's fine for me and my partner but concerns me as a parent. Our daughter is entering what is essentially her third week of a month-long quarantine. We don't know when she'll be able to go outside next — something we were looking forward to about home isolation in Australia."
No laundry service
“Our other issue, the absence of a laundry service in hotel quarantine, has been fixed by a good old-fashioned return to hand washing.”
Pinili said, “I don’t have access to a balcony or a window that opens ... which means for 14 days I will not have fresh air. There are people patrolling the corridor. I can’t even walk up and down the corridor. This is worse than being a prisoner, prisoners get fresh air.”
No food delivery
One resident complained that the food delivery he had ordered was reversed on health grounds.
“There are three guards on each floor and the police are watching the exits. And now you can't even order anything anymore.”