In Australia and Taiwan’s fight against Covid, flight crew members appear to be their Achilles heel

In Australia and Taiwan’s fight against Covid, flight crew members appear to be their Achilles heel

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(CNN) – Countries around the Asia-Pacific region have closed borders and set strict quarantine requirements, essentially shutting themselves off from the world.

But in many jurisdictions, there is one important exception to the rules: flight attendants.

For months, flight crews in a number of places – including Taiwan and Australia – have been able to avoid the difficult quarantine rules imposed on other international travelers. But violations by airline staff at both locations in December’s rules have raised questions about whether exemptions for air workers pose an unnecessary risk to the public.

Taiwan has now tightened its quarantine rules for flight crews, something two Australian states did in December.

But this is a troublesome predicament. While health experts say the treatment of flight crews is otherwise a gap in an otherwise difficult border approach, aviation industry officials say exemptions are needed to keep the industry working – and to avoid the mental health of the flight crew.

What happened in Australia and Taiwan?

When Taiwan reported its first locally-exaggerated case in more than 250 days on December 22, authorities quickly identified a foreign pilot as the source of infection.

Authorities say a New Zealand pilot in his 60s infected a woman in her thirties after completing the required three days of the pilot quarantine, Taiwanese state media CNA reported. The pilot has now been fined by the Taiwanese authorities for failing to disclose his full contact history and has been fired by his company.
Although the self-governing island reported its first case in January, it was able to avoid a major outbreak of the coronavirus – in total, Taiwan reported just over 800 cases of coronavirus and only seven deaths. The success was largely due to the strict border approach: it closed borders in March for almost all non-residents and required international arrivals to be quarantined for 14 days.
Except for air personnel. Under Taiwan’s previous rules, pilots only had to be quarantined for three days, while flight attendants had to be quarantined for five years – reportedly the difference being that the latter group had more person-to-person interaction. From January 1, the crew must spend seven days in quarantine after a long-haul flight and must test negative before they can leave, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control announced on December 28.

Other places, including Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia, have also given flight crews an exemption from their otherwise difficult border policies.

Australia’s rules differed by country, but previously aircraft crews in Australia flying in New South Wales were allowed to be quarantined at home rather than in state-run hotel quarantine facilities, while international crews had to be quarantined in one of the 25 hotels. until their next flight, although they were not monitored by other authorities like other international travelers.

It was strict by international standards, yet much more relaxed than other incoming travelers faced – two weeks in a state-run hotel quarantine at its own expense.

But a series of incidents in December have raised questions about whether this was the right approach. A Sydney pilot transporting international flight personnel tested positive in early December.
Later that month, police in New South Wales fined 13 international air crew members a fine of 1,000 Australian dollars ($ 760) each for going to a number of venues in Sydney when they had to be quarantined. And just before Christmas, a Qantas crew member tested positive after flying in from Darwin from Paris and then boarding a domestic flight.
New South Wales now requires international crews to be quarantined under two designated airport hotels, where it is monitored by health authorities and police. Crews in New South Wales must be tested before leaving, but may still be isolated at home.
“We have been saying all along that it is a big risk for us, but it is a risk we are taking because we want Australians to come back home … and we want loads to come back,” he said. Gladys Berejiklian, Prime Minister of New South Wales, said in December. when she tightened the rules around crews. “It’s breaking the guidelines that’s the problem, it’s not the guidelines themselves, and we can not risk it.”

Why flight crews are treated differently

Even with the tightened restrictions in Australia and Taiwan, flight attendants are still treated differently from other travelers. And in a number of jurisdictions, many crew members do not need to be quarantined at all.

In New Zealand, for example, most air crews are exempt from the mandatory 14-day government-guaranteed quarantine because of the ‘importance of maintaining international air routes’. In Hong Kong, air crews who have not visited a high-risk place, including the US and UK, can test on arrival and are free to leave as soon as they are negative – much more comfortable than the three-week hotel quarantine on their own costs that other international arrivals face.
Part of the reason flight crews have gotten an easier ride is that it is necessary to keep economies going and supply chains going. As the Hong Kong Government put it: ‘The exemption scheme was essential to maintain the necessary functioning of society and the economy, and to ensure an uninterrupted supply of all daily necessities to the public.’

Albert Tjoeng, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents 290 airlines, said the crew differs from ordinary travelers – they undertake repeated trips, they do not wait to be quarantined to reach the goal. their journey, and they are well informed about the risks and requirements. “(The aircraft personnel are) well aware of the vulnerability of their existence to any decline in infection control,” Tjoeng said.

The releases were also concerned about the mental health of crew members. Unlike regular travelers who may only make one trip home this year to see their family, flight attendants will regularly undertake international flights. This means that they could spend whole weeks or months effectively in quarantine.

That was the case with a China Airlines captain in Taiwan, who estimates he has spent about 50 days in quarantine this year. He flies about once a month between Taipei and Sydney, and he has to be quarantined for three days each time.

The captain, who asked to remain anonymous as he is not allowed to speak to the media, says he has handled the quarantine but that it is of concern for mental health and for people who may be with their family and after their care care. children. The days he spends in quarantine are not paid.

“I do not think the whole society, or the company, or even the (Taiwanese) CDC really cares about our mental health, they only care about public health, they do not really care about this part of us,” he said. said. said.

Should the quarantine rules be tightened?

Health experts claim that the releases create a possible void for the coronavirus to crawl to places that would otherwise have been successful in keeping it out.

“It seems to me that the risk of airline personnel being infected is no less than the risk of a passenger arriving,” Mike Toole, an epidemiologist at the Burnet Institute, told Australian state broadcaster ABC in December. “It’s a potential loophole in the system, and we can not afford it.”

Hong Kong, New Zealand, Taiwan and Australia have all been fairly successful in curbing their outbreaks, thanks in part to strict border policies.

But IATA has called on governments to release flight crew members who do not interact with the public from quarantine requirements to ensure cargo supply chains can continue. In March, the association’s director and CEO said delays in global supply chains “endanger lives.”

“Air freight is a key partner in the global fight against Covid-19,” Alexandre de Juniac said.

Tjoeng of IATA said that strict requirements definitely make it difficult for air crews working to those destinations.

ICAO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, has also called on governments to exclude crew members from quarantine cargo flights.

“There is an urgent need to ensure the sustainability of the global air freight supply chain and to maintain the availability of critical medicines and equipment such as fans, masks and other health and hygiene items that will help spread Covid-19. reduce.” ICAO Secretary-General Fang Liu said in March.

For the China Airlines pilot, he understands that Taiwan had to extend the quarantine to make the public feel comfortable. But he wants the rules to be consistent.

Under the new requirements, pilots undergoing their seven-day quarantine can return to working long-haul flights once they have been quarantined for three days. In the case of air hostesses, they must be quarantined for five days, reports CNA. For the China Airlines pilot, it apparently puts him at risk of infecting colleagues – or getting infected – something he feared during the course of the pandemic.

“They do not want us to want the public or society, they do not want us to infect others. But it seems like I am infecting colleagues, it’s OK,” he said.

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