Professor Vasilios Chronopoulos keen for Covid quarantine-free travel

Running dental practices in Australia and Greece, as well as lecturing in universities across the globe is no easy task, and with two weeks quarantine on arrival in Australia Covid is making the job harder.

Professor Vasilios Chronopoulos works at Toowoomba Specialist Dental and has a practice in Athens, Greece, Thursday, June 3, 2021. Picture: Kevin Farmer

After spending the past two decades as a dentistry professor in universities in Greece, the USA, China and Australia, as well as running dental practices on the Gold Coast and Athens, Professor Vasilios Chronopoulos has spent a fair share of time in airport terminals.

Now, thanks to Covid, he has also spent plenty of time inside hotel rooms.

Despite the travel restrictions, and the mandatory two weeks of hotel quarantine on his return to Australia, Prof Chronopoulos still regularly travels to Greece to visit family and maintain his private multidisciplinary dental clinic in Athens.

“Life is before and after Covid now, so before Covid I was spending almost seven months in Australia and I would travel to different universities in Hong Kong, the United States, Europe to give lectures,” he said.

“I would also travel to Athens to my multidisciplinary clinic there but since we have a lot of specialists they don’t really need me so I would use it as a good excuse to see my parents.

“Now of course Covid has restricted travel, I still go back (to Greece) to visit family but now it’s restricted. I usually spend a couple of months here, then a month away, then a couple of months here.

“The problem is every time you get back to Australia, you have to quarantine for two weeks, so you lose this time from your life. Quarantine is fine, it’s no problem, but I’m not with my family, I’m not with my patients. It’s lost time and time is the most precious commodity.”

Professor Vasilios Chronopoulos works at Toowoomba Specialist Dental and has a practice in Athens, Greece, Thursday, June 3, 2021. Picture: Kevin Farmer

While fully-vaccinated, the specialist prosthodontist said he understands the need to quarantine but was hopeful there would be another option soon.

“The public has to be protected and the most important thing to keep the community safe and for me two weeks in quarantine is a small price to pay,” he said.

“In the European Union if you’re fully vaccinated you can travel freely, there’s no restrictions, and in the coming weeks people who are vaccinated in Europe and the US will be able to travel between regions.

“I am waiting for the day when we can travel without quarantine but we will see.”

Now based on the Gold Coast, Prof Chronopoulos has spent the past 10 years in Australia and is now also working out of Toowoomba Specialist Dental.