90-Second Read: Hantavirus quarantine has started—two infection control experts explain what to expect

Six passengers from the Hantavirus cruise ship have started their quarantine at Australia's purpose-built facility in Western Australia. We are both infection prevention and control experts who advised the Victorian government on best-practice quarantine arrangements during COVID. Today, quarantine is specifically for people who have been exposed to a virus, in this case, the Andes strain of Hantavirus, but aren't showing any symptoms yet. There, staff from the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Center will monitor the returned passengers' health, before authorities decide what happens next.

When architects and health experts design these facilities, they focus on four main things: fresh air, design, workflow and dignity. The safest way to run a facility is to split it into three "traffic light" zones : A crucial rule in infection control is that you never move "dirty" items back into "clean" areas. The World Health Organization recommends active monitoring and home or facility quarantine of high-risk contacts for 42 days after their last potential exposure. Over the next three weeks, the Australians and one New Zealander will be housed at the 500-bed Bullsbrook facility northeast of Perth, one of three purpose-built "centers for national resilience" around the country.

Experience from managing other infectious diseases, including COVID, has taught us that people can spread a virus before they even feel sick. This would be the case for the dirty laundry of people in quarantine. This may include a fear of infection, constantly being on alert for symptoms, and having trouble sleeping. As Hantaviruses are rarely transmitted between people, the risk to the general public remains low and the virus is not a pandemic threat.

We use quarantine to protect the community and also to make sure the person who was exposed doesn't catch anything else. During the early stages of the COVID pandemic, Australia was among countries that used hotels for quarantine purposes. One of the hardest parts of quarantine is the mental toll.