The mental and physical impact of quarantine is especially damaging for athletes who need to move for a living

Studies show quarantine is detrimental and creates psychological stress, prevalent for athletes who rely on being in peak shape and mentally fit

Australian athletes returning from Tokyo 2020 were hit with a four-week, double quarantine, demonstrating how reckless governments are being with mental health

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What is the cost of quarantine to fight Covid-19 on people’s physical and mental health? Photo: EPA

Patrick Blennerhassett

Patrick Blennerhassett is an award-winning Canadian journalist and four-time published author.

Published: 9:00pm, 20 Aug 2021Updated: 9:00pm, 20 Aug 2021

As Hong Kong descends further into “zero Covid-19” policy madness – backtracking and flip-flopping without any clear plan – residents once again find themselves faced with extended quarantine periods if they want to leave the city and return.

For the vast majority of the population, quarantine is a dreaded, time-wasting, money-sucking intrusion that could actually give us Covid-19.

One of the most heavily impacted groups in society when it comes to quarantine is athletes. The worst thing you can tell a professional who relies on their body for a living, is to sit still and confine themselves to a room with few physical outlets. Athletes need to travel for international competitions, they simply have no choice if they want to win events, tournaments and championships. Quarantine is essentially antithetical to their very existence.

In a paper published in The Lancet, the negative psychological impact of even a seven-day quarantine, at home, is easily identifiable. Those forced into confined spaces reported a host of issues including thoughts of suicide, anger, depression, anxiety and stress. The medical literature is clear, people are not built to be stuck in a single room, and the longer you keep them there, the more their physical and mental health deteriorates.

One of the latest insights into the impact of quarantine and the unpredictability of the coronavirus on athletes in particular, comes from CrossFit athlete Kara Saunders. She tested positive for Covid-19 after flying from Australia to the US for the 2021 CrossFit Games in August. She flew back home to Australia after only competing for one day after testing negative, and was confined to a hotel room for 14 days and described the ordeal to CrossFit blog Morning Chalk Up.

Saunders detailed phases that got progressively worse, from irritation and frustration to extreme sadness, given she was also away from her young daughter. Saunders also described something you probably will not ever hear an athlete say in a normal setting: her physical health suffered because she could not move around enough.