On what basis could they continue to hold her following several negative tests? What information did they have that we didn’t? Could they ask for new tests indefinitely? We were provided with no information. USA TODAY's Louie Villalobos and Jason Lalljee: We are failing at COVID at exactly the wrong time. Same day test results are available elsewhere, but not at the quarantine facilities, apparently. They had to wait for another test result. 2, the day of her expected discharge, bags packed and kids ready to go, they were not discharged. On the last few days, the nurses caught my wife with a cough. Was she presumed psychotic or at risk of COVID? The lines between caution, theater and incompetence ran thin. Certain kitchen utensils were forbidden and the oven disabled. During quarantine, they were checked in on multiple times a day (often late at night when asleep). Their luggage was misplaced during transit, leaving them without luggage for 2 days – a long time with 3 young kids. On their return to Australia and 14 days mandated quarantine, our 4 year old was taken alone in a separate ambulance because he had a cough.
We were fortunate for them to be able to leave in the first place and then to make it back at all – last month the Australian government cut intakes to an already restrictive border regime ahead of their departure from Mexico. Earlier this year, she flew with our three children, all under 5, to Mexico for 3 months to attend to a family health issue. My own family’s experience, whilst minor compared to others’, might serve to illustrate some of the challenges Australian families have faced and some of the absurdities of the stressed, bureaucratic machine deployed to protect Australia. Our low-violence police are generally not a source of fear in the community.īut there are extraordinary aspects to Australia’s COVID policies: Australians abandoned overseas, banned from leaving the country, and rolling lockdowns enforced increasingly stringently on a restless population. Australians tend to be more risk averse and rule tolerant than our American friends. For Australia, it’s more like sending out a swarm of parking inspectors. In the United States, this might recall times when the National Guard were called in to quell riots or enforce desegregation in the U.S. Some of the headlines sound downright despotic: The Australian military deployed to the streets of Sydney to enforce the latest COVID lockdown. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)Īmericans might be forgiven for looking down under to Australia and wondering what’s going on. Restrictions have been placed on all non-essential business and strict social distancing rules are in place across Australia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 22: An empty carpark at Sydney Domestic Airport on Apin Sydney, Australia.
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