Coronavirus: ‘humane’ New Zealand managed isolation compared to ‘brutal’ Australia

Peter Macky recently flew home to New Zealand from Berlin via Doha and Sydney. He experienced managed isolation in both Australia and Auckland.

OPINION: My time in Managed Isolation (MI) in Sydney was as a guest of the New South Wales government. Anyone passing through Sydney at night is required to quarantine.

It’s for 14 days, but passengers with an international ticket onwards are given an exemption to pay early. For me, and my arrival on September 1, the process was a disaster.

In Auckland, we were processed and on the bus in 30 minutes. We were received and treated like people. That was not my experience in Sydney. There we spent three hours waiting in lines to be processed by surly individuals who seemed indifferent upon our arrival.

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Another big difference between countries is that the Australian government restricts the returning numbers to 4000 per week. That is much less than the demand. The result is that many Australians take months to return and those who do are often forced to enter business class.

As an example: a young Australian I chatted with while we waited not so patiently in line in Sydney. It had taken him three months to get home from Yorkshire. The airline had hit her three times, and to get back she had to travel on business. He had seen these stories in the press. I don’t blame the airlines. Their flights cannot be cheap now, with such a low number allowed back. So why wouldn’t they try to force passengers into business class to cut their losses? New Zealanders do not have these limitations.

In New South Wales, quarantined passengers are not given the keys to their rooms, which they cannot leave for 14 days; not for exercise, not for smoking, not for nothing. It’s brutal. Meals arrive from the contracted provider in a plastic bag, mid-morning, with lunch and dinner that day and breakfast the next morning. They didn’t tell us what was in the meals and the hotel had no idea. I asked. It is definitely not a healthy balanced diet, not from what I saw. And Australians have to pay for quarantine, which starts at A $ 3,000 (NZ $ 3,252) per adult. For two adults and 2 children, it is A $ 5000.

The 14 nights at the Grand Millennium in Auckland were a very different experience. Just having the key to the room, that ubiquitous piece of plastic the size of a credit card was a great start. This did much more than open my door, it was (and I’m trying to keep this from being too cheesy), for me, a lifetime. It meant he wasn’t a prisoner (though that’s not strictly true), but at least he was free to explore the hotel, socially estranged, of course. I could take the elevator, as long as I was the only occupant, to exercise or interact with other guests, staff, security personnel, and the Covid-19 Health team. Having experienced only one night under the New South Wales quarantine regime, where if he leaves his room he cannot return, unless the army officer accepts his explanation. Our Covid-19 quarantine regime is safe, humane, and rational.

Having left MI, it’s definitely not something I want to do on my own again. Of the other solo travelers I spoke to, we are all in the same area.

In terms of mental health, page 10 of our 24 page ‘Welcome Packet’ includes a phone number for a ‘health professional’. But that is all, and for many it is inappropriate.

At the Grand Millennium we sign up daily for a 45 minute walk on a terrace outside the gym. We can also walk again and again through the hotel esplanade to get some air. But there is no interaction with other guests other than very brief conversations. While this is understandable, we are quarantined after all, I have suggested to management that in the same way, guests can sign up for a tour, they can also sign up for a chat; socially distanced of course and supervised, but at least the guests would have some mental stimulation. Then there would be a “body and soul” approach.

Now that my isolation is over, looking back, I have a few suggestions for anyone involved in this process. Two weeks is a long time and it is very important to have a routine and some projects.

I would start my day with a blog. It took at least two hours to research, write, test, and publish every morning. With the blog, breakfast and walking, always for 45 minutes starting at 10.15 am, the morning was easily dispatched. Then lunch and some time to work on one of my projects, reviewing my new book on buying and restoring a Kaiserbahnhof (Kaiser train station building) that is about to be published. Reading tests is time consuming and demanding.

When that was too much, I made progress in planning and researching an event that I will organize in December 2021, Covid-19 is ready! For anyone who joins MI, a project or two to keep them busy (and better yet, entertained) is essential.

I would also recommend establishing a routine. Get up and shower at a set time, get some exercise, book the walk “round and round” at the same time each morning. Even placing the food for each meal. It arrives in a plastic container and everything tasted better on the china supplied by the hotel and the meals were a way to pass the time. The food at the Grand Millennium happened to be very good, so a little effort on my part was the least I could do.

Now that I have been released and have had a few days to reflect, I look back on ‘my time’ with fondness. I am a little sorry that I was able to achieve more. But that would have required more planning and thought, and that was not a priority when I left Europe. Returning safely to Auckland was.

Peter Macky is a retired lawyer living in Auckland and Berlin. He has written several books including Coolangatta a tribute and is known both here and in Germany for his restoration of a Kaiser’s train station building in Halbe, south of Berlin.