One of the doctors co-ordinating Hollywood star Matt Damon’s privately funded quarantine in the Byron Bay area before he films a new Thor movie has said they needed strict new protocols because of unreported security breaches during other celebrity visits.
The chief executive of medical consultancy Concierge Doctors, Dr Zac Turner, said the actor-producer and his family were paying “hundreds of thousands of dollars” for a meticulous approach to quarantine that included flying into the country by private jet so as not to disadvantage Australians wanting to return home.
In quarantine: Matt Damon and wife Luciana Barroso at the Los Angeles premiere of Thor: Ragnarok in 2017. Credit:Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Damon, who is locked down with his wife and three daughters, is due to star in the Marvel superhero movie Thor: Love and Thunder in Sydney. A regular visitor and close friend to Thor star Chris Hemsworth, he is also believed to have another project lined up in Australia.
Dr Turner said the Damon family initially quarantined for two weeks in a ski lodge in the US with COVID tests every three days. Then arrived by private jet in Australia on Saturday and moved into a rented house, where they are paying for their own hospital-grade cleaning, private security, police monitoring, staff, meals and regular medical checks for two more weeks of quarantine.
