| Almost two years into the pandemic, I'm contemplating what will be my third (and my husband's fourth) mandatory quarantine. Put in place shortly after the virus went global, they have been a key way in which countries like China, Australia and New Zealand walled out the virus, allowing communities within their tight borders to live almost pre-2020 lives—until delta came along. Twice as infectious as the original strain, delta has managed to snake its way through even the most stringent Covid Zero regimes, so named for their focus on eliminating the virus or keeping cases at nil. That's raising questions about the ongoing viability of these quarantine systems, which see incoming travelers confined to a hotel room for 14 days (as many as 21 days in Hong Kong and parts of China), closely monitored and regularly tested for Covid-19. I've done them in Beijing, Auckland and am now facing another in Sydney, if I can get one of the highly sought-after plane tickets that secure me a place. For readers in parts of the world where travel is now—or always has been—open despite the pandemic, this must sound mind-boggling. Few of these systems make allowances for vaccinated travelers, and they're now being strained by surging demand.  'Day 12' and 'Day 13' stickers are displayed on the window of Dorsett Wanchai Hong Kong Hotel to record quarantine days. Photographer: China News Service/China News Service After already missing one Christmas with family, and in some cases not being able to see dying relatives or friends, Australians and New Zealanders living overseas are desperate. Grappling with a delta outbreak that's plunged half the country back into lockdown, Australia slashed its quarantine quota to fewer than 3,000 arrivals a week, while New Zealand—known for its widespread diaspora—saw more than 25,000 people bidding on Monday for the few thousand rooms available from now until year-end. Some people are taking matters into their own hands. New Zealand counts two weeks spent confined on a boat as quarantine, spurring two out-of-work pilots to sail home from Indonesia with some other stranded Kiwis. A professional sailor who headed to Australia after failing to net a flight wasn't so lucky—he still had to do a hotel stint once making landfall, despite 26 days alone on his yacht. The chaos is taking the shine off a pandemic strategy that ensured some of the lowest death rates globally but is now leaving Covid Zero nations increasingly isolated. Accepting that it's exceedingly tough to stamp out delta forever, and under pressure from those abroad, Australia is now trialing home quarantines for the vaccinated. It might just be my best chance of getting home this year.—Emma O'Brien
Join Michael R. Bloomberg, the World Health Organization's Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases, as he hosts a special live update on COVID-19 next week. He will be joined by Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, and Dr. Kelly Henning, Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Health Program Lead. The briefing is scheduled for Sept. 23 at 1:45 p.m. ET Registration: https://bloombergdotorg.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_N-QWY6DNTa-aJSTb_36IrQ | 
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