A bracelet tracking system could strengthen Western Australia’s hotel quarantine system and allow those from low-risk countries to isolate at home, according to UNSW infection control expert Professor Marylouise McLaws.
Professor McLaws said tracking bracelets could lessen the risk of COVID-19 leaking out of hotel quarantine by ensuring no one inappropriately enters or leaves their room.
She also said tracking bracelets could be worn by hotel staff to ensure only those trained to do so enter special areas.
“You really need a system where no one's leaving that room and if there has been a breach that can be dealt with instantaneously, not once a cleaner or a staff member has been found to be infected,” Professor McLaws said.
“The [bracelets] are designed so that you can get the locators to tell you where they are, it can also tell you whether their blood pressure is increasing and if they might be unwell,” she told The Feed.
Similar have been introduced in Hong Kong, Singapore and Papua New Guinea during the pandemic. However, another Australian health expert has cautioned about relying on technology to manage the virus.
WA Premier Mark McGowan Source: AAP
“I just think it's too dangerous to be relying on technological solutions that enable home quarantine for international arrivals,” said Curtin University’s vice-chancellor of health sciences, Professor Archie Clements.
“I think we have to have supervised or dedicated facilities,” he told The Feed.
Referring to the government’s COVID-Safe application, that only detected in NSW, Professor Clements said technological solutions often “break down.”
“I think that we need to rely on the tried and tested approach that we've heard which is physical isolation in hotels under supervision. I think that's the best approach for now,” he said.
The debate comes as WA Premier Mark McGowan announced the government would undertake an immediate review into the state’s hotel quarantine arrangements.
WA Police will also launch an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the man’s positive test result but they've stressed it will not be a criminal one.
Over the weekend, WA was plunged into a five-day lockdown after a security guard tested positive to what’s believed to be a UK-strain of the virus.
While the state recorded no local cases of COVID-19 on Monday, experts have stressed the importance of acting quickly to contain the virus and return to a new normal.
A security guard has tested positive to COVID-19 in Western Australia. Source: Getty Images AsiaPac
Professor McLaws said the ideal hotel quarantine set-up includes a “fantastic airflow change” that reduces the chances of aersol transmission of the virus.
“It should be at least 60 or even 80 litres per second per person. That's a very high exchange rate. You don't get that in a normal hotel room,” she said.
“You need to make sure staff are tested every day or every other day with the rapid antigen test and that [travellers] are tested maybe every third day,” she added.
Professor Clements believes the state government has done a fantastic job at managing the virus but it should keep on top of proper access to PPE and ensure security guards are highly trained and accountable for hotel quarantine.
A visual representation of COVID-19. Source: Pixabay/geralt
“I think we saw that in Victoria, where the and the companies involved we're not engaging in best practice, I think that's a risk,” he said.
“There's got to be close monitoring, compliance and quality of security biosecurity that's provided and if there are breakdowns, I think police need to get involved.”
Professor McLaws said with the emergence of new, highly contagious UK and South African strains of COVID-19, the virus will continue to be an enormous challenge.
“You don’t want a variant to start seeding the community. It took NSW 32 days to get 219 cases under control. That would look like a stroll in the park compared to trying to contain a variant,” she told The Feed.
“We really need to shore up nationally, our quarantine program so that we don't get the variances of concern, and so that we can get all Australians vaccinated as soon as possible.”
