It sounds like a prison drama or a dystopian sci-fi movie, but it is the reality of Australians repatriating and going through mandated hotel quarantine. It is also currently my reality, as I lurch into day nine of confinement at the Sheraton Grand hotel in Sydney. When I arrived in Sydney, I was met by the military, put on a bus and driven here, without knowing the location of my quarantine hotel until we arrived. I am the third person in my family to go through Australian hotel quarantine — my sister moved back to Australia in February, and her partner followed in May — so I had an idea of what to expect. But nothing really prepares you for the feeling of being confined, or for the strange sense of alienation when a long international trip ends in the purgatory of a hotel room that could be anywhere in the world.

Source: International New York Times July 16, 2021 08:03 UTC