# Australian government handling of coronavirus travel restrictions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 12, 2020, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319 "2020-03-12T05:22:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/1 "2020-03-12T05:22:31Z")
I’m beginning to get a little concerned about the the advice the Australian government is getting. The official travel page says that there are problems with ``` Mainland China Iran Italy Republic of Korea ``` and that people arriving from ``` Cambodia Hong Kong Indonesia Japan Singapore Thailand ``` should also be self-aware. But where is the USA on that list? Those lists don’t seem to reflect the actual number of cases arriving in Australia, which has recently included a lot of people who had been visiting the USA. And… they are clearly worried about our tourist industry, and some big events coming up, and I’d like to think that they aren’t throwing us under the bus. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/2 "2020-03-12T05:25:03Z")
I’m (maybe) coming from Japan. I am self-aware. But what does that mean? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/3 "2020-03-12T05:44:47Z")
I think it mostly means “if you get sick, call the coronavirus line first” ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/4 "2020-03-12T13:30:48Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > But where is the USA on that list? Those lists don’t seem to reflect the actual number of cases arriving in Australia, which has recently included a lot of people who had been visiting the USA. And… they are clearly worried about our tourist industry, and some big events coming up, and I’d like to think that they aren’t throwing us under the bus. Well, it appears Australia is responsible for infecting America’s national treasures: [Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson](https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/11/entertainment/tom-hanks-rita-wilson-coronavirus/index.html). This means war, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/5 "2020-03-12T15:52:25Z")
Some [good satire here](https://chaser.com.au/national/morrison-says-no-need-to-act-on-covid-19-as-australia-only-contributes-1-of-infections/): > [@](#): > > Scott Morrison has said Australia was opting out of responding to the coronavirus threat sweeping the world after figures showed that Australia’s total contribution to the crisis was less than 1% of infections. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/6 "2020-03-12T16:14:12Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > I’m (maybe) coming from Japan. I am self-aware. But what does that mean? Well, you would probably pass a Turing test. Tell me about your mother. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/7 "2020-03-12T23:03:37Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Well, it appears Australia is responsible for infecting America’s national treasures: [Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson](https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/11/entertainment/tom-hanks-rita-wilson-coronavirus/index.html). This means war, I guess. More recent arrivals from America… ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/8 "2020-03-13T01:29:44Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Well, it appears Australia is responsible for infecting America’s national treasures: [Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson](https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/11/entertainment/tom-hanks-rita-wilson-coronavirus/index.html). This means war, I guess. You can fight us on the beaches ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/9 "2020-03-13T15:04:48Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > You can fight us on the beaches Hey, I saw [On The Beach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_(1959_film)). Too depressing, can’t we find a nicer place? ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/10 "2020-03-14T14:41:57Z")
I decided to stay in Japan. I can’t complete vital work projects if I am quarantined. So I can’t take that risk either going to Australia or coming back to Japan from Australia. I also don’t want to put my family at risk of infection. Bad timing, but if isolation is the best recourse then I’ll play my part in protecting against the international spread. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/11 "2020-03-14T21:16:31Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I’m beginning to get a little concerned about the the advice the Australian government is getting. […] > some big events coming up, and I’d like to think that they aren’t throwing us under the bus. The Gran Prix has been canceled. The government held the line until there were people waiting at the gate, the teams blinked first, and the organization canceled the race. I think it’s pretty obvious that the government didn’t want to pay compensation for canceling the race. NZ has announced 2-week self-quarantine for all arrivals. I’d be happy with just 3 day self-quarantine – it looks like that would catch a lot of the incoming cases, without much pain. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/12 "2020-03-14T21:49:45Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > The Gran Prix has been canceled. The government held the line until there were people waiting at the gate, the teams blinked first, and the organization canceled the race. I think it’s pretty obvious that the government didn’t want to pay compensation for canceling the race. > > NZ has announced 2-week self-quarantine for all arrivals. \*\*I’d be happy with just 3 day self-quarantine \*\*-- it looks like that would catch a lot of the incoming cases, without much pain. […its two weeks for a reason](https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs-hs-coronavirus-incubation-period-20200309-7zxjr4t5qzez3pumbahgwxoksq-story.html). It wouldn’t catch a lot of the incoming cases: it would probably result in the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/13 "2020-03-14T21:50:16Z")
As people have been pointing out, cancelling when all the visitors were already here was just dumb. They’re not going to just sit in their hotel rooms - they’ll be out in the wider community doing stuff, and having just as much person-to-person contact as if they’d done it all together at the race. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-government-handling-of-coronavirus-travel-restrictions/849319/14 "2020-03-17T10:47:43Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > […its two weeks for a reason](https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs-hs-coronavirus-incubation-period-20200309-7zxjr4t5qzez3pumbahgwxoksq-story.html). It wouldn’t catch a lot of the incoming cases: it would probably result in the opposite. When you look at the actual cases in Australia, and when they were exposed, it looks like a 3 day quarantine would have actually eliminated most of the problem. Part of this is simple mathematics: the typical incubation period is around 6 days, and number of different people you have been exposed to who could have given you the disease decrease proportionately to how long it’s been: at 13 days it’s only the people you met 13 days ago or longer that could have given you the disease, which is a smaller and smaller number of people. The actual effect of the quarantine decreases with each day. Personally, I think they should have just banned un-quarantined travel from the USA long ago, and failing that a 5 day quarantine – and it’s nice to see that Norman Swan agrees that travel restrictions for the USA should have been introduced along with Italy and Iran. But a 3 day self-quarantine for travelers from the USA would have eliminated most of the problem. Anyway, the NZ 14-day self-quarantine regulation for incoming travelers immediately provoked the same rule in Aus. Some may claim that was just parallel medical advice, but it looks like politics to me.