Are airline crews now the weakest link in our national quarantine system?

Incoming airline crew members should be treated the same way as international passengers and required to stay in high-standard quarantine hotels, an epidemiologist says.

Australia’s policy for incoming flight crews is under the spotlight after the infection of a worker who transported crew members to their accommodation in Sydney.

Flight crews are exempt from mandatory quarantine, and can instead isolate at home or other accommodation under the current guidelines from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC).

But Burnet Institute epidemiologist Mike Toole said “it just doesn’t make sense” to treat flight crews as less risky than passengers.

“Hindsight is always 20-20, but it seems to me that the risk of…