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‘As safe as we can’: Victoria’s revamped quarantine hotels to accept 106 travellers on Thursday
By Sumeyya Ilanbey
More than 100 overseas travellers will arrive in Melbourne on Thursday as the third iteration of Victoria’s troubled hotel quarantine system begins amid warnings from officials that the program is not risk-free.
Victoria’s acting Police Minister Danny Pearson said 106 returned travellers would arrive in the state from 4.30am on Thursday.
“We’ve gone through these hotels room by room, floor by floor, to make sure they are safe,” he said.
There are six hotels ready to accept travellers and those due to arrive on Thursday will be housed at the Holiday Inn near Melbourne Airport and the Intercontinental on Collins Street.
The other hotels ready to be used are the Novotel Ibis at Melbourne Central, the Pan Pacific at the Convention Centre, the Holiday Inn at Flinders Lane – a health hotel reserved for COVID-positive travellers – and the Element Melbourne Richmond on Swan Street, which will function as a complex care facility.
Mr Pearson did not say how much the modifications to hotel quarantine had cost and said it would be revealed in the commission’s annual financial report.
A hotel room at quarantine hotel Four Points by Sheraton in Docklands on Wednesday.Credit: Jason South
The scheme was shut down in mid-February after a new strain of COVID-19 leaked from a quarantine hotel, forcing the government to halt overseas arrivals and leading to a snap, five-day lockdown.
Victoria’s disastrous second wave of COVID-19 in 2020 was also the result of mistakes in hotel quarantine.
COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria Commissioner Emma Cassar said the restarted program would be reviewed daily to ensure all the recommendations from the most recent review of the hotel quarantine scheme had been implemented.
“We have done everything we can to make this as safe as we can, and will continue to ensure that the program keeps ahead of this virus,” she said.
The staff testing room at Four Points by Sheraton in Docklands. Six quarantine hotels are set to start accepting returned travellers from Thursday.Credit: Jason South
“It isn’t a risk-proof program, we’ve been clear on that, but what we can do is ensure that we are ... looking at the research and looking at what else we can do or other control measures that we need to put in place.”
All staff working in hotel quarantine have received at least their first dose of the vaccine. Ms Cassar said those unwilling or unable to get vaccinated would be offered other roles within CQV, if possible.
As part of the latest iteration of the quarantine program, staff have their temperatures tested and check in using a QR code. Each person who checks in has been given their own unique code that has details of their vaccination history, when they were last tested and their regular close contacts.
Adult guests will be charged $3000 for the 14-day stay, while children will be charged $500. The fees have not been raised despite significant and costly modifications to the hotels.
Ms Cassar said some travellers who have not tested positive to COVID-19 could be given exemptions to temporarily leave hotel quarantine on compassionate grounds.
“From time to time, we know that people will need a reason to leave their rooms, for things like a funeral or going to visit a loved one who is dying or in palliative care,” she said.
“So there are provisions for that ... what we do in these situations is ensure that our staff escort them the entire way so that they’re not in the community without our staff, in full PPE [personal protective equipment] and socially distanced.
“What we would do is we would engage with the hospital [or funeral parlour] to make sure they’re comfortable with the returned traveller visiting, and let them know that our staff will be accompanying them at all stages.”
Acting Police Minister Danny Pearson and COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria Commissioner Emma Cassar at Four Points by Sheraton on Wednesday.Credit: Jason South
Members of the media were given a guided tour on Wednesday of the Four Points by Sheraton in Docklands, which will be used for quarantine once minor works are completed.
Staff will be cohorted depending on their roles and must work in separate areas of the hotel. Those entering “red zones” – where the guests are staying – have been fit-tested with N95 masks and must wear full personal protective equipment, including face shields.
A “spotter” checks to ensure staff have worn the PPE correctly. Men working in red zones must be clean-shaven, while women must tie their hair up. Long earrings are also prohibited.
When putting on PPE, staff are required to sanitise their hands before and after each step.
Key features of the new hotel quarantine system
- Residents to be tested four times during 14-day stay, instead of twice.
- Staff in hotel “red zones” fit-tested with high-protection N95 masks.
- Online system for easier contact tracing of hotel quarantine staff and their households.
- Memorandum of understanding with the Department of Health to clarify roles and responsibilities in hotel quarantine.
- Independent ventilation assessment undertaken at all of the state’s quarantine hotels.
- Arrivals to be capped at 800 a week, scaling up to 1120 by April 15.
- Staggered meal times, room buffers and enhanced screening of prohibited devices in returned travellers’ luggage.
At the Four Points, level seven has been cordoned off for staff. There are meal rooms, where staff must check in using a QR code, and workers have been prohibited from mingling for too long. Meals are also provided to prevent people from bringing lunches from home.
Resident support officers, who work on hotel floors where guests are staying, remain in full PPE and are rotated every 60 to 90 minutes to prevent fatigue and dehydration. They are not allowed mobile phones or books on their shifts and have been ordered to walk the hallways to ensure they can hear through the doors if someone is in distress.
When travellers unexpectedly enter or exit their rooms – such as for medical emergencies or to be transferred to hospital – staff are notified via loudspeaker announcements, text messages and lights.
Each hotel has an approved outdoor space for guests that is assessed for security risk, including whether it allows people to flee.
A resident support officer at the Four Points by Sheraton on Wednesday.Credit: Jason South
Travellers must apply each time they need to visit this space and approvals are given only for medical reasons. They are escorted to the space and are allowed to remain there for only 30 minutes.
Ms Cassar said applications were rarely made to use this space and most guests remained in their hotel rooms rooms for their 14-day quarantine period.
Guests are allowed deliveries but they are inspected by staff before they are taken to rooms. The Four Points also features a room stocked with a range of complimentary products for guests including baby formula, laundry detergent and children’s activities.
Victoria recorded no new local cases of coronavirus for the 40th day in a row on Wednesday.
There were 11,746 COVID-19 test results received in Victoria on Tuesday. Just one active case remains in the state – an international flight crew member who tested positive to COVID-19 on March 29.
State health authorities say 123,759 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Victoria, with 6012 shots delivered on Tuesday. Authorities said that as of Monday, 98,584 of the jabs given were first doses and 19,116 were second doses.