Infected hotel guard ‘did food deliveries’ after COVID test
A hotel quarantine guard said he did “three or four” food deliveries after getting a test for coronavirus, which came back positive the next day.
A guard working at Rydges has told the inquiry into Melbourne’s hotel quarantine program he completed “three or four” food deliveries just hours after getting a test for coronavirus, which came back positive the next day.
The man, who must be identified as Security 16, said he began to feel like he had a cold while working overnight at the Rydges hotel.
He said during one of his breaks, he “noticed some of the guards were sniffling, but thought that was because it was a cold night”.
As his shift went on, Security 16 said he felt “weak”, like he might have a fever and had pain in his throat.
“I did not tell anyone at the Rydges hotel that I felt unwell – I thought it was just a common cold and nothing to worry about,” he noted in his submission to the inquiry.
It was not until he was driving home from his shift and saw a sign on the freeway that read “if you have symptoms, get tested”, that he thought to go to the hospital.
After his test, he was directed to stay home until he received his result, but told the inquiry he chose to ignore that direction.
“I was feeling pretty good and I was getting bored at my house,” he said. “I wanted to divert my mind.”
The guard isolated for 14 days after he received his positive diagnosis, and made food deliveries on his 14th day of quarantine.
Just one day later, he was back in hospital, struggling to breathe.
“I couldn’t breathe properly. I called the department and then went to the hospital,” he submitted.
“I was treated at the hospital for six hours. I was tested for COVID-19 at the hospital and the test was positive.
“I telephoned the department after receiving the positive test result. The department told me that, because it had been 14 days since my first positive test, I was allowed to go out.”
Security 16 told the inquiry he was given an asthma puffer to help his breathing.
The guard also highlighted potential oversights in the use of personal protective equipment at the Rydges, alleging he was told there was a shortage of masks and gloves two or three days into his time with the venue.
Security 16 said he was told “from now on, I would just get one mask and one pair of gloves for each shift”.
“He instructed me to put my mask and gloves in my pocket when I went for a break. He told me not to put my mask and gloves in my pocket in front of the hotel’s security cameras,” he said.
The guard further alleged some quarantine guards were cutting holes in their gloves so they could still use their mobile phones.
Security 16 alleged a similar thing happened when he worked at the Marriott Hotel. He was given one face mask and one pair of gloves per 12-hour shift.
“I was told by a supervisor, who was wearing a Unified vest, to put my mask and gloves into my pocket when I went on a break, and then put the same mask and gloves back on when I returned from my break,” he wrote in his submission to the inquiry.
“I was required to remove the mask and gloves at the point when I left the hotel floor where quarantined guests were staying, so I took my mask and gloves off before I entered the lift.
“After six or seven hours, the elastic on the mask loosened and the mask was not so protective.
“At the end of my shift, I was required to put my used mask and gloves into a specific bin near the lobby.”
INSIDE MELBOURNE’S ‘COVID HOTEL’
A security guard working at a hotel where at least one person in every room had tested positive for coronavirus has lifted the lid on working inside.
The man, who can only be referred to as ‘Security 2’ for legal reasons, told the inquiry into Melbourne’s hotel quarantine program he had worked at the Pullman Hotel before moving to the ‘covid hotel’, which was staffed by a private security provider who worked with The Alfred Hospital.
The guard said he was a supervisor at the hotel, and while the job description for the guards was similar to the Pullman, in that they each guarded one floor for 12-hour shifts, workers were not allowed to move around.
“They had to sit in front of the lifts in a little hallway, they weren’t allowed to walk on the carpet leading to the rooms, they just had an 8x2m space on a chair,” he said.
“They had to wear their masks and goggles the whole time they were on the floor.”
Security 2 said while things were more “authoritarian” at the Pullman, which was secured by Wilson Security, the covid hospital was “run more like a hospital ward” and more focused on teaching in the event of a mistake, not punishing.
Guards at the covid hotel were asked to complete a two-hour online course before their first shift, and were quizzed on their knowledge when they arrived.
If they were unable to answer the questions, they were directed to another 30-minute course, run by either a supervisor or a nurse.
In his submission to the inquiry, Security 2 said guards were chosen to watch different floors “based on their experience and personality”.
“There were some floors that were not considered “active” as they had no patients staying on that floor,” the submission read.
“We put the less experienced guards in these areas. In contrast, some floors had guests who were quite challenging to work with or were quite emotionally distressed given the situation.
“We would put a guard with a stronger personality on these floors, who could handle these types of situations.”
The hotel was divided into red zones and green zones, with red zones considered the “dirty” areas where covid positive patients had moved – specific lifts and hallways, while green zones had not been used by infected patients.
Guards could move around green zones freely but must have disposed of their PPE from red zones first.
A transfer of a patient into the hotel would trigger a “code red” for the foyer area, which meant nobody was able to walk outside the hotel on that side of the street and nobody was allowed to enter the area while the transfer was taking place.
“Once a person had been transferred, the cleaners would, in full PPE, complete a thorough cleaning procedure in the foyer and on the floor that the patient was transferred from or to,” he said.
“The full cleaning procedure included cleaning all touch points and the floors. No-one was allowed into the foyer until the clean was completed.”
This process took about half an hour each time.
‘HUMILIATING TO PLEAD FOR BASICS’
A couple in hotel quarantine at Melbourne’s Pan Pacific Hotel were forced to call “three times a day” for more food, until they realised on day 10 of their stay only one of them was listed as staying in the room.
Kaan Ofli and his partner returned to Melbourne on April 9 and the couple were shuttled to their hotel and placed in the one room.
For 10 days, they received only one meal between them for breakfast lunch and dinner, and would have to call reception and then the Department of Health to beg for more.
“It was one meal we were receiving, one piece of fruit,” he said.
“We weren’t getting bottles of water or anything like that, we were told to drink from the basin.”
Mr Ofli said he and his partner would take turns calling to ask for more, and said they were “embarrassed” to ask.
“We found it humiliating to have to call and plead for the basics,” he said.
“It was really disheartening.”
Each morning, the couple received a call from one of the nurses working in the hotel to check if they had been experiencing symptoms of coronavirus.
The couple took turns answering, so nurses had spoken to both Mr Ofli and his partner.
“On the 10th day it was the same call asking for symptoms, and it was my partner who answered the call,” he told the inquiry.
“She said ‘no we don’t have any symptoms’, and the nurse said ‘what do you mean by we?’.”
“(My partner) was like ‘well there’s two of us in here’, and the nurse said ‘I’ve only got you in the system’.
Mr Ofli told the inquiry everyone was asked to fill out a dietary form upon arriving at the hotel. He had requested halal food for religious reasons, and his partner had indicated she was allergic to peanuts and dairy.
Upon realising he had not been registered to his room, Mr Ofli said he also realised the meat he had eaten while in quarantine was not halal.
In his submission to the inquiry, he said the couple had initially thought there was a food shortage at the hotel, so it was “a shock” to realise he had not been eating what he thought he was eating.
On his third day in hotel quarantine, occupants at the Pan Pacific were given access to fresh air walks.
Mr Ofli told the inquiry he had asked a guard what had changed, and was advised these breaks had been made allowed after a hotel guest committed suicide.