A few Western Australian’s are deciding to travel outside the State’s hard borders and into countries with outbreaks of COVID-19.

WA Instagram blogger Lily Van Dyke is currently in quarantine at an Airbnb in Vancouver after leaving Australia two weeks ago.

She says she left WA because she just wanted to see the world.

“You’re only going to get one phase in your life, it’s two years and I weighed up the pros and cons and I decided to come.”

She says leaving the comparatively safe haven of home was a tough decision.

“Leaving Perth worried me the most because I knew I was leaving a place that was the safest place to be in the world at the time.”

In July, the Federal Government placed a cap of 525 international arrivals into WA per week for returning residents.  

Departures out of Perth are still allowed with an exemption from the Department of Transport and Immigration under the State’s Stage Four Restrictions.

Perry Lakes Hawks State Basketball League guard Bella Green is due to leave Australia next Thursday on a basketball scholarship at Midland College Texas.

She says she would be prepared to catch the virus because of the high number of cases of COVID-19 in the United States.

Bella’s mother Bee Tracey says she will allow Bella to do what she wants to do despite her concern.

“I’m not going to stop her because it’s up to her and how she feels.”

She says she is not worried about COVID-19 affecting Bella’s college experience.

Skyplay Academy director Craig Jackson says the sporting climate provided in WA during the pandemic is greater than in the United States.  

“There is a likelihood that the college basketball season might not go ahead because of an outbreak of the virus,” he says.  

“So I would think that a player who wants to play basketball would consider working online from Perth at school and playing basketball here in Perth.”

Psychologist Morrison McQueen says perceptions of threats like COVID-19 are split between anger or fear.  

“The anger is very much about reducing the perception of risk, whereas people who perceive threat with a fear reaction heighten their perception of risk,” he says.