Hotel quarantine: Top official Matiu Bush caught breaching COVID-19 protocols, stood down
A senior Andrews government infection control manager reported for twice breaching quarantine hotel regulations has been stood down.
A senior Andrews government bureaucrat managing infection prevention across Victoria’s hotel quarantine program was reported to authorities twice since March after defying a Defence Force request for a mandatory COVID-19 test and breaching infection-control protocols.
The two incidents involving Matiu Bush, general manager of COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria’s Infection Prevention and Control, are disclosed in confidential reports that also reveal how unvaccinated contractors have been allowed to perform hotel maintenance work in breach of government policy since the twice-suspended program resumed in April.
The Australian has obtained dozens of daily confidential reports spanning January to April that document an array of breaches and incidents, including a nurse trying to give a returned traveller a banned nebuliser and a frontline medical officer defiantly vaping inside a quarantine hotel despite being warned by health staff the e-cigarette mist could promote “viral spread”.
Following The Australian’s publication of details surrounding Mr Bush, he was stood down.
The acting minister in charge of hotel quarantine Danny Pearson said: “Last night I become aware of reports in relation to Mr Bush and I formed the opinion overnight that Mr Bush needs to be stood down pending a review.”.
Mr Pearson said he made the decision to stand down Mr Bush after becoming aware of reports he refused COVID tests as well as an incident where he did not change his mask at a coffee break.
“That’s not what I expect from a senior leader, a senior manager with CQV and that’s why I felt the most appropriate thing to do was for Mr Bush to be stood down pending that review,” he said.
“Because we want to make sure that we set the right standards right from the top.”
Mr Bush declined to undergo testing when asked on two occasions but was later tested at a different quarantine site, which EMV Commissioner Emma Cassar said was allowed.
“So my understanding is the staff member did make some comments about the fact that he didn’t need to be tested at that site but he was tested at a subsequent location and that was without any intervention from us,” she said.
Mr Bush has been stood down with full pay.
Responding on Tuesday night to questions from The Australian, CQV revealed Mr Bush had been “counselled” over the April 20 incident and had taken a COVID-19 test later that day. He had also been “counselled” for the earlier incident on March 1. The vaping medical worker had been removed from the program.
An operational incidents review obtained by The Australian says that when Mr Bush went to check out of the Intercontinental Hotel at 12.05pm on April 20, he was asked by an Australian Defence Force corporal “if he’d had a daily Covid-19 test”.
The report says Mr Bush replied “NO”. “On the APP it stated that Matiu had been onsite for 3 hours and 40 mins and that a covid-19 test was required before leaving the hotel,” the report says.
The ADF corporal told Mr Bush he needed to get a COVID-19 test before leaving as per the app. “Matiu replied ‘I’m the head of IPC and I override that protocol’ or words to that effect,” the report said.
The ADF corporal referred Mr Bush to Victorian Police officers in the hotel lobby. “Matiu returned to (the ADF corporal) and stated that I ‘override the protocol’,” the report said. “Matiu then proceeded to leave the hotel without signing out.”
An investigation by The Australian can reveal:
●Outside air running into the Park Royal Hotel at Melbourne Airport — hit by an outbreak in January — was switched off every night for 10 to 14 hours to “save energy”, leading to stuffy conditions and a build-up of contaminants, including viral particles, in rooms overnight.
When uncovered by government investigators in February, they recommended the shutdowns “cease immediately”, warning that turning off airflow systems overnight “may pose a transmission hazard” when quarantine residents opened their doors to collect breakfast.
● The provision of general infection prevention and control training was limited. IPC officers interviewed by government investigators had a health background but not necessarily any practical infection prevention experience or postgraduate qualifications. At the Park Royal, processes to manage IPC risks were not well developed.
● Dirty crockery, bags of rubbish, and “visibly unclean” carpet were found in a hotel corridor by government officials during the Park Royal site visit. Workers told them there was often a delay in rubbish being collected, leading to smells from dirty nappies and food waste.
● Residential support officers stationed on hotel floors complained of boredom and sleepiness, with the government report finding the corridors were warm “amplifying their sleepiness”.
● Quarantine staff in hotel red zones were required to follow a complex personal protective equipment “matrix” in conflict with Health Department guidance, leading to staff repeatedly walking between red and green zones. Transferring a quarantine resident to a health hotel or hospital could involve up to 17 roles across six agencies while crossover of staff increased the risk that “movement of air, people and objects may result in cross-contamination or transmission through proximity or contact”.
●Hotel quarantine staff rated the Victorian Health Department’s response following COVID outbreaks at three Melbourne hotels this year as a fail.
Workers surveyed by CQV to “capture their lived experience of the outbreak and quarantine” gave the Health Department an average rating of 4/10.
The Australian can also reveal that on March 1, Mr Bush, IPC director Giulietta Pontivivo and another staffer entered the Pullman Hotel at 12.57pm. “When signing in they were asked to sign in via their personal QR code,” a March 2 operational incident review says. “They refused, stating that as they have been vaccinated they are not required to do so and instead manually signed in the visitor log.”
The report says that about 3.30pm, Mr Bush and either Ms Pontivivo or the other staffer entered the Mercure Hotel main entrance “as another person was leaving the building”.
“Both walked past the sanitising station without sanitising and also did not change masks,” it says. “When approached by reception staff they said (they) had ducked out for coffee, and that the hotel is empty anyway. They were asked to sign in and said they had done so at the Pullman.”
Mr Bush “did not sign out upon his departure from the hotel”.
The report says the incident was recorded as an “IPC breach” and “escalated by reception staff as they occurred”.
A CQV spokesperson said Ms Pontivivo and the other staffer had also been counselled over this incident.
“Infection prevention and control (IPC) is our number one priority and there are clear expectations of all our staff, regardless of their role and whether they are in an operational or non-operational hotel,” the spokesperson said. “We expect the highest standards of our staff, especially those in leadership.”
The incident reports are from Melbourne hotels including the Pan Pacific, Four Points, Intercontinental, Mantra, Novotel, Holiday Inn, Pullman, Park Royal and Stamford Plaza.
They reveal that one of the most serious ongoing challenges for the hotel quarantine program is the number of unvaccinated contractors and tradies who are allowed onsite for maintenance and other work.
Despite the Andrews government signalling that all staff with direct or indirect contact with returned travellers must be vaccinated, the logs show that hotel managers are allowing unvaccinated workers onsite in what are described as “breach of mandatory vaccination” rules.
