Inquiry into hotel quarantine hears staff kept in the dark on which guests were COVID positive
The manager of the hotel at the centre of 97 per cent of Victoria’s deadly second wave of COVID infections has revealed details of the disarray on the Victorian government’s behalf.
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Quarantine hotels were not automatically told which of their guests were COVID-positive, including the hotel at the epicentre of Victoria’s second wave of infections where 87 per cent of guests tested positive.
Rydges on Swanston took in 313 guests of which 274 were COVID-19 positive.
Manager Rosswyn Menezes told the hotel quarantine inquiry a “large majority’’ of his guests were positive.
Asked by counsel assisting the inquiry, Tony Neal, if his hotel knew the status of detainee guests, Mr Menezes replied: “We were always aware right from the start that we’d be receiving COVID-positive guests.
“Unless Rydges asked, it was not informed which quarantine guests had tested positive for COVID-19,’’ he said.
It was also confirmed for the first time that Rydges had become a dedicated hot hotel, which, after April 27, only took COVID-positive guests.
Ninety per cent of Victoria’s deadly second wave of infections have been traced back to a family of four who were transferred to Rydges in May, and was spread by security guards who caught the infection at the hotel.
One Rydges staff member also contracted the virus, the only hotel employee infection identified to the inquiry.
The inquiry, which is being chaired by former judge Jennifer Coate, heard from five hotel bosses on Friday including the manager of the Travelodge at Docklands, Ram Mandyan, who said he was initially pleased his hotel was chosen to quarantine guests.
“However, there was a lack of appropriate support from the Victorian government for the hotel that made the experience difficult and unpleasant,’’ he said.
“At the outset, the DHHS and the DJPR appeared to be relatively disorganised (especially at the time of the arrival of the first flight of passengers for the hotel). This added enormously to the pressure the hotel was under.
“It also increased the hostility from the guests because they were required to check-in manually with the hotel, which took a significant amount of time, and the hotel was then unable to meet various dietary requirements and restrictions for those guests for a number of days.
“Some of the guests remained hostile from this time right throughout their stay at the hotel.’’
Evidence was presented showing Rydges alerted the government to harassment of female staff and nurses by security guards on May 10.
Unified Security was the head contractor for Rydges and the guards were stood down and replaced the next day.
Some of the other bad behaviour by government-contracted security at hotels identified by staff included:
GUARDS sneaking towels from the linen store at Crown to use for naps on the floor.
CHAIRS and wall coverings at Crown damaged after guards smoked in the fire stairwells. Unified had the head contract for security at Crown.
A GUARD without a mask caught on CCTV at the Stamford Plaza looking at his phone as a guest walked out of his room, got into the lift and went downstairs, breaching his quarantine.
MSS was head contractor at the Stamford. Two quarantine breaches at the Stamford have been linked to nine per cent of Victoria’s second wave.
A GUARD sleeping on the job at Rydges.
FIVE security guards without masks escorting a guest for a smoke at the Stamford.
The quarantine program, which was also designed to keep businesses afloat during the pandemic, cost tens of millions of dollars in room charges alone.
At the Park Royal, which has a contract with the government until November 4, there are about $7m worth of room costs already paid for, including its current contract worth $3.48m over three months.
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