Sydney man forced to miss mother’s funeral over long wait and strict rules that forbid him any contact with other mourners

A fully vaccinated NSW man must skip his mother’s funeral in SA, blocked by a near month-long wait and stringent rules that even forbid contact with other mourners.

A grieving son has been left devastated as rigid Covid restrictions prevent him travelling from Sydney to Adelaide for the funeral of his mother.

Justin Myatt, 53, of Randwick, who is fully vaccinated, was faced with a 10-day wait for a spot in a medi-hotel as well as a fortnight in quarantine to farewell his 92-year-old mother, Kathleen.

If Mr Myatt attended the funeral, he would not have been able to hug his family or have any contact.

Speaking on behalf of her “distraught” husband, Marianne Gizycki, 53, said the family considered moving the funeral back from October 20 to enable Mr Wyatt to attend.

Ms Gizycki said a lack of spots in hotels for those wanting to enter SA was unacceptable when they paid their own way.

Mr Myatt is unable to attend the funeral of his mother, Kathleen. Picture: Supplied

“We perfectly understand that SA wants to stay Covid-zero, perfectly understand that approach, but if you’re going to do that, you need to resource quarantine appropriately so you can have a compassionate approach to the people who need to come in quickly,” she said.

Justin Myatt

“You need policing and medical resources when you add more capacity to quarantine, but the people coming into quarantine are paying their own way, they’re paying for their food and accommodation.”

Mr Myatt applied to enter SA when his mother entered palliative care – she died two days later. The family considered all options and pleaded with “really good and really helpful” SA Health staff to arrange home quarantine, but it was not possible.

“He’s not keen on being in a medi-hotel because there’s a much higher risk of getting Covid than anywhere else in the city, and being in that much more confined space for 14 days when you’re already grieving, for mental health, is not good,” Ms Gizycki said. She said the “state’s finances shouldn’t be a constraint” on end-of-life visits and other emergency travel for the fully vaccinated.

She said everyone attending the funeral would be vaccinated. Perplexing the family is how international travellers can trial home quarantine but those from SA who are interstate cannot.

An SA Health spokesperson said its priority for domestic medi-hotel guests is close contacts of Covid-positive people and travellers returning for end-of-life care. “We understand this may cause difficult decisions for people and apologise for any impact this may have,” they said.