Hotel quarantine: Paramedic slams Qld government for hypocrisy
A private paramedic, has slammed the State Government for its hypocrisy in allowing hundreds of AFL families entry to the state after he was placed in hotel quarantine despite receiving advice he would be able to self-isolate.
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A Queensland paramedic has slammed the State Government for its hypocrisy allowing hundreds of AFL families entry to the state after he was placed in mandatory hotel quarantine despite receiving government advice he would be able to self-isolate.
Clinton Ware, who works as a private paramedic in Queensland, flew into Brisbane on Monday and currently remains in mandatory quarantine at the Rydges South Bank.
Mr Ware flew to Canberra on August 7 before the area was declared a COVID-19 hotspot, for a position as a paramedic and COVID co-ordinator for the upcoming television series SAS Australia, where he says he and the team were kept in a tight production hub and temperature tested daily.
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After completing the job, Mr Ware applied for a Queensland Border Pass and exemption from quarantine to return to Brisbane, but after several days of no answer to his situation, he called the Premier’s office, where he and another colleague were told they only needed a Border Pass S - the pass that allows specialists into the state without having to quarantine.
Mr Ware’s colleague was able to travel home without mandatory quarantining on Friday, however Mr Ware was unable to do the same on Monday.
“It was their understanding that we did not require an exemption because we were both paramedics living and residing in Queensland – all we needed was a Queensland Border Declaration pass, which we got that morning,” he said.
“The AFL has set a precedent now … they’ll say they’ll give them an exemption but a hard working paramedic who just wants to go home to his family and actually do his job as a COVID tracer can’t do that.
“She (the Premier) said they’ve (AFL) all been in a hub the past two weeks – that’s exactly where I’ve been. They’ve been in a hub in Victoria which is a massive hotspot and I’ve been in a hub in southern ACT where there’s no cases. I’ve been in exactly the same hub and I’ve come back into the state with two negative tests. It’s clear hypocrisy.”
Currently anyone can enter Queensland unless they have been in a COVID-19 hotspot in the last 14 days.
The Government says if someone has been in a hotspot in the last 14 days, they will no longer be able to quarantine in Queensland and will be turned away at the border unless they meet one of the criteria, which includes providing an essential activity such as working as a paramedic providing emergency medical care or transport to a patient.
Shadow health minister Ros Bates said the same rules should apply to everyone.
“Queenslanders rightfully want to know why AFL officials and celebrities from Melbourne get exemptions from hotel quarantine, but local workers can’t,” she said.
“Mr Ware hasn’t even had his application assessed, yet hundreds of Melbournians coming from a COVID hotspot under stage 4 lockdown get VIP treatment.”
When asked about whether Queensland had a double standard when it came to border exemptions on Thursday morning, Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young today said there was only one standard.
“It’s the one standard, its done by a team that I manage and the standard is that we keep Queenslanders safe,” she said.
“Those people (AFL group) are supporting the people who are putting this event on.
“This event is an important event and it needs to be put on under a COVID-Safe plan, which has happened, so the people who are involved in putting that event on … all of them are going into hotel quarantine.”
Dr Young said the AFL had stood up and were managing the hotel and it was not stopping other people coming into Queensland who have the appropriate reasons that they can travel into the state for.
A Queensland Health spokesman said restrictions are strict but necessary to keep Queenslanders safe from the virus, which is why the department rarely grant exemptions to the quarantine measures.
“We need to get this right – we have seen other nations, and indeed our neighbouring states, fall to extreme levels of community transmission, illness and death,” he said.
Mr Ware received an email on Thursday afternoon stating he must remain in hotel quarantine.