Victoria’s coronavirus ‘patient zero’ wasn’t a hotel quarantine guard

Emails have emerged that reveal it wasn’t a misbehaving security guard who sparked Victoria’s deadly second wave of infections.

Emails have emerged showing it wasn’t a misbehaving security guard who sparked Victoria’s second wave of infections, but a night duty manager at the Rydges Hotel on Swanston St.

According to The Age, the night duty manager became “patient zero” after coming down with a fever on May 25 and testing positive the next day.

Other staff and security guards were sent home immediately to isolate but it was too late, with five guards testing positive and spreading the virus to their families.

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Emails have emerged that reveal it wasn’t a misbehaving security guard who sparked Victoria’s deadly second wave of infections. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

It’s unclear how the manager became infected – it’s presumed he caught it from a returned traveller – but there is no suggestion of any improper behaviour.

Sources told The Age “green zones” where Rydges staff, security guards and nurses were assured they were safe may not have been sufficient to prevent infection.

Private security contractors have been previously blamed for an outbreak of infections from hotel quarantine.

In a statement, a Rydges spokesperson said the staff member isolated immediately upon getting tested and their colleagues and family contacts tested negative.

“Rydges on Swanston has been closed to guests since 27 March 2020 and has been operating under the direction of the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (DJPR) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) as a Quarantine Hotel, at the request of the Victorian Government,” the statement said.

“While it has been widely reported in the media today that a staff member tested positive on 25 May, 2020, we wish to clarify that colleagues and family contacts of the staff member all tested negative, with the staff member isolating immediately upon getting tested.

“Rydges on Swanston is fully supportive of the Judicial Inquiry into the Hotel Quarantine Program and is currently assisting the Inquiry with its investigations. We look forward to clarification around the source of infection as the Inquiry findings are presented.”

RELATED: Inside Victoria’s botched hotel quarantine scandal

The Rydges Hotel on Swanson St in Melbourne. Picture: Newswire

The use of private security in Victoria’s bungled hotel quarantine program has been under the microscope this week as a parliamentary inquiry grilled state officials, including Premier Daniel Andrews, about why the Australian Defence Force wasn’t used instead.

Mr Andrews told the inquiry he didn’t believe ADF support was on offer.

“I think it is fundamentally incorrect to assert that there was hundreds of ADF staff on offer and somehow someone said no. That’s just not, in my judgment, accurate,” he said on Tuesday.

The Premier’s claim was immediately refuted by Federal Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, who released a statement saying the AFD was offered to all states on March 27, and the next day, Victorian authorities said they were not seeking ADF assistance with hotel quarantine and “consistently advised that its assistance was not required for any ‘public facing roles’ in Victoria”.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was grilled this week about why Australian Defence Force personnel weren’t called on to assist with the state’s hotel quarantine program. Picture: David Geraghty/NCA NewsWire

Ms Reynold’s claim was then disputed by Victoria’s Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp, who said the ADF had been part of state control meetings on March 27 and 28 but “during these discussions I did not seek, nor did representatives of the ADF offer, assistance as part of the hotel quarantine program”.

The parliamentary inquiry has been probing multiple government departments about their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jobs Minister Martin Pakula confirmed to the inquiry his department was in charge of contracting private security, as well as other logistics of the hotel quarantine program, but Department of Health and Human Services was responsible for managing infection control.