"In other states, they're in a hotel room and they can't even crack a window open," she says. "What they offer returning Aussies is a prerequisite that everybody has a balcony," she says.Īccess to fresh air not only improves circulation - preventing infection within the hotel - it also aids mental health and well-being, Smart says. "ACT Health told me … if you make quarantine nice enough, people won't try to leave," Smart says.Ĭanberrans in quarantine are welcomed with a food hamper and other support, but Smart says the rooms themselves are critical. "Now, we haven't had as many people but we also haven't had any leakage from our quarantine," she says.įrom the start, the ACT's "boutique system" was designed to make the 14-day isolation safe but also pleasant. Smart says the "gold standard" is the isolated Howard Springs facility in the Northern Territory, but the ACT's system has been foolproof so far. Imperfections in hotel quarantine have caused most of Australia's COVID-19 outbreaks.
Unlike many Australians, Canberrans in quarantine can access an open balcony and fresh air. "Of course, we haven't had as many international flights as others, so we don't have as many people bringing COVID-19 into the territory," she says.īut size and location alone do not explain Canberra's infection-free year. Smart says size, along with Canberra's buffering distance from the mega city of Sydney, has helped.
"We've done especially well considering that we're wrapped around by NSW."Ĭanberra is no country town - its population is nudging 450,000, more than Darwin and Hobart combined - but it is significantly smaller than other capitals. "I honestly have been particularly surprised over the last couple of weeks that we haven't had a case pop up, given the traffic to and from Sydney all the time," she says. She says luck has played a part, adding that the ACT now faces its greatest threat. Professor Tracy Smart leads the COVID-19 team at one of Canberra's biggest employers - the Australian National University - and has been examining the ACT's response since the pandemic began. 'Wrapped by NSW', but not next door to Sydney So how did Canberrans do it? And can their luck last with a worsening outbreak less than three hours' drive away in Sydney? "We know there are no cases there, we haven't had community transmission in Canberra for an extended period of time, but this in some ways confounds the epidemiologists because we know this is a very porous border," he said. When South Australian Premier Steven Marshall ruled out opening his state to Canberrans this week, he suggested the ACT's disease-free streak made little sense.