Why COVID-positive guests weren’t moved from other guests in high-risk Perth hotel

The government had protocols in place to move hotel quarantine guests away from the rooms of COVID-infected guests prior to the Mercure cluster, but they were only being applied in higher-risk cases.

WA Chief Health Officer Dr Andy Robertson said the protocols were in place before a returned traveller from India tested positive on April 13 and spread the virus across the floor he was staying on.

WA Premier Mark McGowan before announcing the end of the Anzac Day long weekend lockdown on Monday.Credit: Hamish Hastie

One guest who was infected by the traveller went on to infect two others in the community, triggering Perth’s snap three-day lockdown over the Anzac Day long weekend.

Dr Robertson said the protocols would now require the movement of guests away from positive cases but prior to the Mercure cluster, they were only being applied to high-risk cases.

“We’ve done it on a case by case basis, we’ve been looking at where there have been a number of higher-risk groups so if we’ve had a family with a number of people within that family where there’s a higher viral load than we’d obviously move people from around that family,” he said.

“It really depends on the situation, and where they’re situated what they’re doing but certainly if we’ve felt there was a risk, we would look at moving them.”

However, the state was limited in how far it could move guests given quarantine hotels were full.

“We have as of last night 2100 people in our hotels, there isn’t a spare hotel we can move people to. If I put them in home quarantine, we will have an outbreak,” Dr Robertson said.

“This is the bottom line. There is no easy solution.”

The returned traveller from India transmitted the virus to three other people staying in rooms in close proximity to his in the Mercure Hotel, which had been deemed a high risk hotel for virus spread in a report provided to the Chief Health Officer on April 8.

Dr Robertson defended the state’s efforts in mitigating the spread of the virus in hotel quarantine, which included installing filters in ventilation systems, moving staff away from rooms and ensuring people wore masks when opening doors.

He also said genomic testing took time to confirm whether there was a case of transmission across hotel floors.

When asked whether the Mercure cluster was completely unavoidable WA Premier Mark McGowan said the system was not without risk.

“And it doesn’t matter what you do, there is still risk and so as long as we have returning Australians, as long as there is COVID in the world, there will be risk.

“There’s no avoiding that, it’s about diminishing the risk.”

Australian Medical Association WA president Dr Andrew Miller rubbished Mr McGowan’s comments.

“It was predicted and it was entirely preventable,” he said.

Shadow Tourism minister Vince Catania called on all governments to get serious about providing purpose-built, robust and safe quarantine facilities.

“There’s no doubt our priority is to keep everyone safe but surely past learnings coupled with the state government’s review of the hotel quarantine system, should have resulted in immediate changes, along with the implementation of a much stronger contingency plan around potential outbreaks than what’s unfolded in past days,” he said.

State prepared for next lockdown if virus spreads

The Perth and Peel region will enter a post-lockdown transition period where people can leave their house with face masks restrictions still applying but Mr McGowan warned another lockdown could occur if new community cases were detected.

“It all depends on circumstances,” he said.

“If we get another case tomorrow and it’s a person who ... went into quarantine before such time as they potentially became infectious. Well, that’s a different matter, to someone who’s out in the community.”

Mercure cluster timeline

• January 31 – Perth goes into a five-day lockdown because of case 903 where a security guard at the Four Points Sheraton tests positive to COVID-19.
• February 4 – Professor Tarun Weeramanthri provides initial advice and calls for an immediate independent expert review of airflow and ventilation in all WA quarantine hotels.
• February 24 – Independent reviewers, Glossop Consultancy, recommend to the government that the Four Points be retained until it could be replaced by the Adnate Hotel in the quarantine system.
• March 10 – Initial ventilation review completed.
• March 31 – Final ventilation report provided to WA Health.
• April 3 – A 54-year-old Victorian man arrives in Perth from China and starts hotel quarantine at the Mecure Hotel.
• April 8 – Summary reports on hotel ventilation provided to Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson which states the Mercure is the most at-risk hotel and the Four Points and Novotel Langley are also high risk.
• April 10 – an Australian man returns from India and starts quarantining at the Mercure with his new wife after going overseas for his own wedding.
• April 13 – The man who came back from India tests positive to the virus.
• April 15 – The wife of the man who came back from India tests positive.
• April 16 – Premier Mark McGowan and Health Minister Roger Cook receive advice from the CHO on ventilation saying risks at the three high-risk hotels could be mitigated by closing them or bringing in other measures. Dr Robertson suggests transitioning the Mercure to taking low-risk international arrivals such as seasonal workers from countries with no COVID-19. A nurse and her daughter, staying at the Mercure since April 3 after returning from the United Kingdom, in quarantine in a room across from the couple who came back from India test positive to the virus.
• April 17 – The Victorian man, who was in an immediate adjacent room to the positive cases, is let out of quarantine after testing negative for the virus and not showing any symptoms. He is a tourist in Perth and visits several cafes, restaurants and sightseeing locations, while staying at St Catherine’s on Park in Crawley.
• April 21 – Genomic sequencing reveals the UK family cases are linked to the returned couple from India who are in a neighbouring room and tested positive for the virus a few days after going into quarantine on April 10. The government tells 16 other people who were staying on the same floor to self-isolate until they return a negative test. Two other people who were guests in adjacent rooms to the positive cases told to isolate for two weeks. Victorian man flies home to Melbourne on QF-778 but is immediately told to go into isolation by health authorities.
• April 23 – The Victorian man returns a positive test for COVID-19 as does a woman from Kardinya he stayed with on April 17. Mr McGowan announces a three-day lockdown from midnight.
• April 24 – A West Australian man in his 40s becomes the second community case in connection to the Victorian man after dining at the same restaurant on April 18.
• April 25 – No new cases of COVID-19 are recorded in WA in the community.
• April 26 – Mr McGowan announces Perth will come out of lockdown at 12.01am on Tuesday but there will be four days of interim restrictions before the government reassesses the situation.