Stranded Queenslanders to quarantine at home from December, as residents cherrypicked for trial

Stranded Queenslanders have finally been given the date they will be able to ditch hotels and quarantine at home. Here, we can exclusively reveal how long they have to stay isolated as well as what it means for anyone who shares the same address.

Stranded Queenslanders will be quarantining at home before December the state’s top doctor has revealed, as it emerged health authorities had begun secretly recruiting residents for a trial that starts next week.

More than 3000 Queenslanders desperate to return home from hotspots are still waiting for their border pass to be granted, with hotel quarantine requirements creating a serious bottleneck.

But chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young has revealed widespread home quarantine for residents would be available before December.

Dr Young’s comments stand in contrast to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s ongoing refusal to provide any certainty on Queensland’s road out of Covid-19 once vaccination milestones are met.

Dr Young also signalled her confidence in the quarantine system, noting 56,000 Queenslanders had successfully isolated in their homes including those deemed close contacts, international flight crew and diplomats.

Home quarantine is available in Queensland for returning children whose family had “a suitable residence” and for people who may “struggle’ in hotel quarantine, like people with a disability she said.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young. NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

“We are working it through but it (home quarantine) would probably be before (December) I would think,” Dr Young said.

“We are looking at whether there are other people who could safely quarantine at home.”

Those people are currently being cherrypicked by Queensland Health, with emails seen by the Courier-Mail revealing an expanded home quarantine trial is due to start on October 11.

Up to 1000 people will be part of the trial Queensland Health confirmed, but eligibility criteria are strict and only those formally “invited” can apply for a spot.

In order to be considered “suitable” a home quarantine trial candidate must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, be prepared to travel after October 11, must fly into Brisbane, and live in one of eight southeast Queensland council areas.

Those are, Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast, Noosa, Ipswich, Logan, Gold Coast, and the Redlands excluding its adjoining islands.

Queensland Health forms state a “suitable” home quarantine site must be a “freestanding” private dwelling with no shared common areas accessible by other people, ruling out those that live in apartments.

Those undertaking the home quarantine trial will have to declare that they have enough food and provisions to last 14 days before they arrive home.

They must also turn up to get tested four times by going to a drive-through clinic in their own car on day 1, 5, 12 and 14 of quarantine.

Anyone who normally lives at the home must either agree to also go into quarantine or live somewhere else for two weeks.

Queensland’s cautious approach to home quarantine is in contrast to NSW, which is trialling seven-day home quarantine for vaccinated international arrivals, and Victoria where home quarantine for residents stuck interstate is already in place.

The latest blame game between the Premier and her federal counterparts rolled into Wednesday, with Ms Palaszczuk again defending the state’s demands for extra health funding – a move branded “shakedown politics” by the Prime Minister.

The Premier denied the state was not following the national plan, saying Queensland was in Phase A of the plan before suggesting people query what the Commonwealth’s plan is on Covid-19 booster shots.

Preparation for a booster shot program is outlined under Phase B of the national roadmap and is estimated to come into effect in the final “post-vaccination” phase.

Federal Minister and Queensland MP Stuart Robert said the nation’s peak vaccine authority was preparing advice on a booster shot program before slamming the Premier for her “distractions”.

“The other major states and territories have outlined plans for moving forward in line with a national plan. Is it too much for Queenslanders to expect the Premier of Queensland to do the same?” he said.

Ms Palaszczuk has offered up a smorgasbord of reasons for not revealing Queensland’s roadmap, including; the need of a “plan for the children”, the perpetual wait for more scientific modelling, and once questioning why anyone would want to travel overseas anyway.

Queensland recorded no new local cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, with three cases recorded in hotel quarantine.