Quarantine in the context of COVID-19
This brief sets out practical considerations relating to the design and impact of measures that restrict human movement patterns in the context of COVID-19. These measures include: quarantine, in which individuals who have been exposed to a communicable disease are separated from others for the duration of the disease’s incubation period; isolation, in which individuals with a communicable disease are separated from others for as long as they are infectious; and social distancing, in which individuals or large groups of people are restricted from gathering.1 Measures may be mandatory (governmentally required and enforced) or voluntary (not required but recommended by government or developed and implemented at the community or individual level).
This brief provides numerous summary considerations, including:
- Principles of ethics and human rights should be taken into account when planning quarantine interventions.
- The needs of vulnerable populations should be prioritised in the structure of and communication about quarantine measures.
- Cultural, political, economic and geographic factors will affect the efficacy of quarantine and its potential to contain infectious disease.
- It is important to understand community and political power dynamics and local histories of quarantine in a given location.