COMMENT by ERWIN CHLANDA
The COVID-19 rules coming into force from midnight will have travellers by road scratching their heads, especially about those requirements which relate to declared hotspots now including all of Victoria and the greater Sydney area.
The following is part of the information posted on the Tourism NT website, with questions we think the rules are raising printed in Italics.
The post says: “If you have travelled through or from a nominated hotspot in the last 14 days, you will be directed into mandatory supervised quarantine at Howard Springs in Darwin or an identified facility in Alice Springs, and charged $2500.”
All arrivals to the NT must complete a border entry form. This must be completed within 72 hours of arrival at the border.
So it could be three days until NT authorities will have any clue what any person arriving in the NT is doing?
Travellers arriving by road at the border having travelled through or from a nominated hotspot in the last 14 days will need to proceed directly to mandatory quarantine facilities in Alice Springs or Darwin.
You must travel direct to this point.
You may stop briefly to re-fuel, using contactless means to pay and maintaining physical distance from all persons unknown to you at all times.
AND: At any locations you stop at to re-fuel or purchase meals … we would recommend wiping down any surfaces you touch (that are not your own) with antibacterial wipes.
Recommend or require?
You MUST NOT stop along the way to purchase groceries or supplies, you need to proceed direct to your quarantine facility.
You can buy meals and fuel but not groceries at roadhouses along the way – which could be three days.
You will have up to 72 hours to reach your quarantine facilities in Alice Springs or Darwin, whichever is closest to you.
The travel time from SA border to Alice Springs, for example, is three hours and not three days.
We’ve asked for comment.
Just another confusing unmanageable directive that many won’t understand or comply with.
Worse yet the passenger sitting next to someone from the Sydney hotspot concerned he was allowed to leave the airport and do as pleased.
A recording of this mornings interview of that passenger by Stuart Brash should be played to Mr Gunner.
317 cases in Victoria yesterday. Victoria is close to Stage Four lockdown and still planes arrive from Melbourne.
Last Thursday I was on a plane from Darwin to Sydney, stopping at Alice. The masks, thoughtfully supplied by Qantas to all passengers at the gate, were a sight to behold.
Does the blue side go in or out? (About 50/50 from where I was sitting.)
The thin malleable strip goes across the nose.
And placement – it does little good to wear a breathing mask around the throat or only covering the chin and lower lip.