Fears secret COVID quarantine hotel could put workers at risk
Concerns have been raised about the covert operation of a large hotel as a COVID-19 quarantine hub amid fears service industry workers could inadvertently be put at risk.
Cairns
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CONCERNS have been raised about the covert operation of a large hotel as a COVID-19 quarantine hub amid fears service industry workers could inadvertently be put at risk.
Holiday Inn Cairns Harbourside ceased to trade soon after international borders closed in March.
The hotel, spanning a block between the Cairns Esplanade and Lake Street, is understood to have opened as a COVID quarantine hotel about 10 days ago.
On Friday, a bus was observed outside the Lake Street entrance unloading guests wearing masks who were escorted into the foyer by a police officer.
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Living close to the hotel, Gail Seymour was concerned delivery drivers and garbage collection workers unaware of the hotel operating as a COVID isolation hub could inadvertently be put in harm’s way.
“The rubbish truck came, the man came out of the truck and pulled the bin up and he had bare hands,” she said.
“If there was COVID in the hotel he could go back to the office and inflect others. Everyone should know it’s a quarantine hotel.”
The North Cairns resident has also witnessed “innocent” drivers make deliveries to the hotel without any protective gear.
Lake Street resident Jan Dwyer lives a stone’s throw from the hotel and had witnessed an increasing police presence and an airport coach drop-off. She said the hotel didn’t appear to be checking in guests in large volumes.
“I have only seen one big bus and they don’t seem to have very many people,” she said.
“It seems to me (the quarantine hub) is at a preparatory stage.”
The former nurse said it was not the hotel’s proximity to her house that was a concern.
“That doesn’t worry me. Airborne particles would not get me in here” she said.
“(But) infection control is where the breakdown (during) previous outbreaks has happened.”
More quarantine hotels meant a greater chance of a second wave impacting Cairns, she said.
The hotel was contacted locally and through parent company IHG group, but the firm declined to comment on the hotel’s potential role in the isolation program.
Meanwhile, 232 people had been tested for the virus at Mossman and Port Douglas between Monday and Thursday following the declaration of Adelaide as a COVID hotspot.
“We ask that visitors in FNQ who were in Adelaide between November 9 and 16 get tested. We also ask that they quarantine until 14 days have passed since (being at) the South Australia hotspot,” a Queensland Health spokeswoman said.
Originally published as Fears secret COVID quarantine hotel could put workers at risk
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