Quarantine hotel guards axed, police step in; inquiry chair requests more evidence
Cleaning agency workers have been hurriedly stood down as guards at a Melbourne quarantine hotel and replaced by police officers, amid growing concerns over the program’s infection control.
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Fears of a third wave have been raised after police officers were sent in to patrol a hotel quarantine site where private security guards were hurriedly stood down.
Workers from cleaning agency, Spotless, were terminated in the middle of their shifts on Wednesday amid fears over infection control.
Police have since replaced the private security workers.
But there are now growing concerns among police about the safety of officers and whether enough measures have been put in to prevent further virus spread.
“Are we looking at a third wave, has anything been learnt from this entire thing?” one police source said.
The hotel quarantine program was remodelled in late July after Victoria’s disastrous second wave of coronavirus, where 768 deaths and 18,490 infections were linked to the scheme’s failure.
But nine hotel quarantine workers have tested positive to COVID-19 since the overhaul, including five Spotless employees.
A spokesperson for Spotless said staff were engaged in mid-June, through Alfred Health, to provide “high-touchpoint cleaning and pathogen cleaning” as part of the hotel quarantine program.
They were then asked to provide “additional resourcing … in various roles,” including customer service, bag checking and floor monitoring.
In a statement, the spokesperson said staff were now only supporting Alfred Health and DJCS “with our core services of high touch point cleaning and pathogen cleaning.”
“At Spotless, infection control is paramount and all Spotless staff who work on the program complete mandatory PPE and infection prevention induction training and regular refresher training,” the statement reads.
The statement says Spotless is “fully committed” to keeping staff and the community safe, and implemented extra safety checks, such as a daily declaration by staff that they have not worked at another facility in the last 14 days.
In a statement Alfred Health said Spotless was a “long-term contract partner” being used for a range of reasons but not to provide security.
“They have provided specialised cleaning and, until Wednesday 30 September, customer service and floor monitor roles.
“Spotless staff were not employed in security roles in hotel quarantine.
“As part of their induction process, Spotless staff undertake extensive PPE training prior to commencement of duties.
“There have been no outbreaks of COVID-19 at hotels where Alfred Health has been involved since late June, and we thank our staff who are working tirelessly in these changed environments to protect the community.”
In total, 798 Victorians have died since the beginning of the pandemic, and 20,169 infections have been recorded.
And metropolitan Melbourne has been in lockdown for close to three months after the second wave swept the state, with controversial restrictions — including a 5km travel limit and now-scrapped curfew — slapped on the city.
‘HEALTH HOTELS’ UNDER SCRUTINY AMID INFECTIONS
The hotel quarantine inquiry will request further evidence about infections of workers in the so-called “health hotels’’ in metropolitan Melbourne.
Despite completing its evidentiary phase last Friday, it’s believed the board will seek further information about the infections of nine workers involved in the program to quarantine infected health workers and other vulnerable members of the community.
The Grand Chancellor and Brady Hotels have been used since mid-July to house those who cannot safely quarantine at home.
It is being run by the Department of Justice, which is using Alfred Health to run the clinical and infection control components of the program.
Inquiry chair Jennifer Coate had been examining the health hotel model as she considers findings on what a quarantine program could look like into the future.
The inquiry has previously ruled out reopening public hearings, but it’s thought it could make further inquiries and seek written information on the outbreaks at the two hotels.
It’s believed nine people who worked at the hotels were infected between July 27 and late August, including five from Spotless, which is the Alfred’s cleaning subcontractor.
Two Alfred Health staff, one Victoria Police member and a DHHS staffer have also been infected, although there are currently no active cases in workers in the hotels.
Department of Justice officials believe, based on epidemiological evidence, that eight of the workers contracted the virus from known outbreaks, while the ninth was unclear but likely to have been from a community hotspot transmission.
As well as looking at how the deadly failures occurred in the hotel quarantine program for overseas travellers from late March until early July, Ms Coate is looking at what a successful quarantine program could look like, including a hybrid model involving people isolating at home.
The inquiry closed its evidentiary phase on Friday night following evidence from Premier Daniel Andrews, and counsel assisting made closing submissions on Monday. Other interested parties including the private security firms involved, ministers, departments and the hotel companies, have until 4pm on Monday to hand in their closing submissions.
The final report is due to be handed to Governor Linda Dessau by November 6.
An inquiry spokesman declined to comment.
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