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Optimising Quarantine

Past project

Responding to COVID-19 and preparing for the future: Understanding the experiences and needs of specific population groups during home-isolation/quarantine for COVID-19 to inform current and future pandemic responses. Novel respiratory virus outbreaks such as COVID-19 pose a significant threat to public health due to their ability to spread rapidly among populations with little prior immunity.

Objective

In an attempt to contain and slow the spread of infectious disease outbreaks such as COVID- 19, asking members of the general public to undertake isolation or quarantine in their homes can become a key public health protection measure.

Isolation is for when a person has symptoms or a positive diagnosis of COVID-19. Quarantine is for when a person is well but may have been in contact with someone with COVID-19.

Research was conducted via qualitative phone interviews in March and April 2020 to understand the experiences of people who were participating in or had completed community-based isolation/quarantine in Australia related to COVID-19.

Another phase of this research was expanded to include investigation into the experiences that specific population groups were having during home-isolation/quarantine.

Approach

The research study looked to interview people who were 18 years and older, and had been instructed to undertake isolation or quarantine at home by a public health authority for one of the following reasons:

  • testing positive to COVID-19
  • being identified as a close contact of someone who tested positive to COVID-19 by a public health authority
  • returning from overseas or interstate travel.

They had to identify as one or more of the following:

  • you are a woman who is pregnant or have given birth within the past 6 weeks (maternal and newborn health)
  • you work as a healthcare professional (healthcare workers)
  • you are a first-generation migrant to Australia, or an international student currently residing in Australia for study from a non-English-speaking country (multicultural communities)
  • you self-identify as having been affected by the bushfires of the summer of 2019/2020.

Partners

Collaborators

  • Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University
  • Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
  • Centre for Disaster Management and Public Safety, University of Melbourne
  • Victorian Department of Health and Human Services
  • Centre for Culture, Ethnicity & Health (CEH)

Project contacts

Main contacts

Stephanie Franet

Stephanie Franet

EC Australia Project Manager
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Project team

Dr Stephanie Munari

Dr Stephanie Munari

PhD candidate; Senior Research Officer
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Associate Professor Alyce Wilson

Associate Professor Alyce Wilson

Honorary Principal Research Fellow
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Professor Caroline Homer AO

Professor Caroline Homer AO

Deputy Director – Gender Equity, Diversity & Inclusion; Co-Head, Global Women's and Newborn Health; Co-Head, Immunisation and Health Systems Strengthening
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Dr Jack Wallace

Dr Jack Wallace

Senior Research Officer
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Professor Joseph (Joe) Doyle

Professor Joseph (Joe) Doyle

Deputy Program Director, Disease Elimination; Co-Head, Infectious Diseases Clinical Research; President, Hepatitis Australia; NHMRC Clinical Research Fellow
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Professor Margaret Hellard AM

Professor Margaret Hellard AM

Deputy Director, Programs; Adjunct Professor, Monash University, DEPM.
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Stephanie Franet

Stephanie Franet

EC Australia Project Manager
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Professor Allen Cheng

Professor Allen Cheng

Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University
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Professor Lisa Gibbs

Professor Lisa Gibbs

Director of the Child Health and Community Wellbeing Program, University of Melbourne; Lead of Community Resilience, University of Melbourne
Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne; Centre for Disaster Management and Public Safety, University of Melbourne
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Professor Brett Sutton

Professor Brett Sutton

Chief Medical Officer
Victorian Department of Health and Human Services
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Professor Meghan Bohren

Professor Meghan Bohren

Senior Lecturer, Gender and Women’s Health
Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor Karen Block

Associate Professor Karen Block

Associate Director, Child and Community Health Unit
Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
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Alison Coelho

Alison Coelho

Co-Manager, Multicultural Health Support Service (MHSS)
Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health (CEH)
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Phoebe Quinn

Phoebe Quinn

Associate Professor in Law and Global Health
The Child and Community Wellbeing Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
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