The 18-second Adelaide hotel Covid-19 breach that brought misery and despair to seven million Victorians
A sliding doors moment in an Adelaide hotel has plunged nearly seven million Victorians into another soul-crushing lockdown.
It was the sliding doors moment that left nearly seven million Victorians facing another soul-crushing lockdown.
Just 18 seconds in duration. On May 3 in the Playford Hotel in Adelaide’s CBD, the door to the room of a man known as Case A was opened for a couple of seconds. Just enough time for the 30-something to collect a meal placed outside.
Case A, as SA Health has dubbed him in its investigation into how the virus spread inside the hotel, was near the end of his 14-day quarantine after returning from India. He was tested for Covid-19 on day one, five and 13, returning a negative result each time.
But unfortunately for Case A, and now for Victoria, he was in a room adjacent to Case B.
In what should have been a red flag given previous incidents of hotel quarantine infections, their rooms were at the end of a corridor.
SA Health’s report released late Wednesday revealed that twice on May 3 Case A opened his door to collect a meal, but so too did Case B. He hadn’t been diagnosed with Covid at the time, only starting to show symptoms later that day.
“On one occasion, Case B opened his room door to collect his meal, then 18 seconds later Case A opened his door to collect his meal,” the report says. “This was during the time Case B was infectious but prior to staff knowing his positive Covid-19 status. A similar situation was observed again on the same day with a time lapse of less than 12 minutes.
“Case B opening their door could have resulted in potentially contaminated corridor air either directly exposing Case A or forcing contaminated air into his room, particularly given Case B’s room was situated at the end of a corridor and the intervening time period may not have allowed exchange of fresh air to have occurred despite adequate ventilation levels in the corridor.”
It was potentially the 18-second window that saw Covid-19 pass from one hotel room to another, then, as we now know from genomic testing, to a northern Melbourne suburb, then across the city into workplaces, nightclubs and football stadiums.
Spreading far and wide
Since then, infected people have spent time in Bendigo and in Cohuna near the NSW border. A netball match in Cohuna against a team from the Riverina in NSW has led to people across the border being urged to get tested. More than 100 people linked to exposure sites who have since returned to South Australia and a number in Western Australia are being urged to isolate and test.
What’s it all mean? Small businesses smashed. Again. Melbourne’s CBD ghostly quiet. Again. Families denied access to loved ones in hospitals and nursing homes. Again. Parents dealing with children’s remote learning. Again. Anxiety and stress. Again.
Part of the anxiety is the unknown. Though Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino and Health Minister Martin Foley say they take some comfort in that the 26 Covid cases identified so far are genomically linked, two concerns stand out.
Filling in the gaps
First is a gap in the chain of transmission. Case A was released from hotel quarantine on May 4 and returned to the north Melbourne suburb of Wollert. He felt unwell and tested for the virus on May 8, receiving confirmation of his positive status on May 11.
While there has been a genomic link established between Case A and the new Covid cases in Melbourne, no direct connection has been identified. Only the most general geographic link — that Case A and the so-called “index case” in the new Melbourne cluster live nearby in the Whittlesea area — has been established.
Second is the pace of the spread. Consider this. The index case, labelled by Victorian health authorities as Case 5 (the fifth positive case identified in this outbreak), is a man in his 60s. He tested positive on Tuesday, but was believed to be infectious since May 15 and had symptoms on May 17.
He had a business meeting with Case 1, a man in his 30s, on May 18. Case 1 tested positive on Monday, as did three of his relatives, including a preschool-aged child.
Four of Case 5’s relatives have also tested positive, one of whom works in Stratton Finance, a large financial firm in Port Melbourne. Five work colleagues have tested positive.
It is understood one of those five spent much of last Saturday evening hopping between nightclubs in the Melbourne party zone of Prahran and South Yarra.
Others among the cases identified so far had been to two AFL games. The area of the MCG named as an exposure site following Sunday’s Collingwood-Port Adelaide game included the Port cheer squad.
In short, since Case 1 was identified as Covid-positive on Monday, 14,000 primary and secondary contacts have been identified by contact tracers. And more than 150 potential exposure sites, public and private, have been found.
Question of quarantine
Amid the blizzard of numbers is a bleak reminder of Covid’s considerable dangers. Of the 26 cases in this cluster, one elderly person is in intensive care. Merlino said the person was “not in a very good way”.
Victorians, again the pariahs of the nation, are now wondering if this fourth lockdown could have been avoided.
Certainly the state’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, was blunt when asked on Thursday about the genesis of the outbreak, another case of airborne transmission inside hotel quarantine.
“We have seen it too many times. It happens when doors open in quick succession,” he said. “That is something we have tried to mitigate in Victoria as much as possible with filtered air purifiers in corridors. That said, hotels are not the ideal structural environment to keep people (in quarantine).”
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