‘Difficult and obstructive’: Covidiot not cooperative and refusing to wear a mask says Premier
A man who tested positive to Covid-19 after escaping hotel quarantine in Hobart isn’t being co-operative with authorities, the Premier said. LATEST >>
Tasmania
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A man who tested positive for Covid-19 after absconding from hotel quarantine was not being co-operative with authorities, parliament has heard.
It was not yet clear how the man escaped from a quarantine hotel in central Hobart, Premier Peter Gutwein says.
Labor leader Rebecca White grilled the government about its handling of the case this morning.
Mr Gutwein told the House of Assembly the man had arrived at Hobart Airport on Monday and provided a NSW residential address before being sent to quarantine at the TravelLodge in Macquarie Street from where he absconded.
He was found by police in the northern suburbs of Hobart on Tuesday.
A subsequent test returned a positive result for Covid-19 and the man has been placed in isolation.
Mr Gutwein told parliament the man was not assisting authorities.
“This individual has not been co-operative and has in fact been very difficult,” he said.
He said the man declined to wear a mask during his transfer to a medihotel on Wednesday.
“The reason that he was not wearing a mask was that the police decided it was not in their best interest to have a physical altercation with the man to make him wear a mask.
“This individual is being particularly difficult and obstructive.”
It was not yet known how he had managed to leave quarantine.
“My advice this morning is that is hasn’t been established how the 31-year-old man absconded from the TravelLodge.
“There are obviously a couple of theories.”
“CCTV recordings at the TravelLodge has been reviewed and there is no images of the man exiting the building.”
Mr Gutwein said he didn’t want to provide further details so as to not give others an “escape plan”.
He said the case was different to that of a Covid-positive man who arrived at Launceston Airport in August.
Labor leader Rebecca White asked why the man was not being checked more often in the quarantine hotel given he had shown “a clear disregard of the rules”.
“This matter is under review and like you, I want to get to the bottom of it,” Mr Gutwein replied.
“In terms of individuals who are attempting to enter the state in breach of our laws it does raise the question about what other measures could be in place,” he said.
“If we need to take any additional steps then we will do so.”
“We will have no hesitation at throwing the book at people who take these steps.
“It is extremely difficult dealing with individuals who have no regard for the health and safety of the community.”
Labor sought details of how the man travelled around Hobart
“How did this man get form central Hobart to the outer northern suburbs … are any of the 50 casual or primary contacts as a result of this,” Mr Gutwein said.
Mr Gutwein said he was hoping to release further details later.
“I understand that it wasn’t public transport,” he said.
“It is quite obvious that in terms of this individual, this was planned attempt to enter Tasmanian and in term of it being a planned attempt there were others who assisted him.
This is a very difficult situation for both our public health officials and for our frontline staff to deal with this individual.
“This is not somebody who has arrive in error in our state.
“It appears the fact they arrived on the last flight on Monday night was an attempt to test our systems at the airport.”
WATCH: Covid-positive man spotted without a mask on at Tassie hotel
TASMANIA is once again on high alert for coronavirus after a man tried to sneak into the state illegally and then spent time in the community after escaping from hotel quarantine, before testing positive to Covid-19.
The 31-year-old New South Wales man — who is presumed to have been carrying the highly-contagious Delta strain of the virus — was apprehended by police in Hobart’s outer northern suburbs on Tuesday afternoon.
He tested positive to Covid-19 on Wednesday, the state’s second case in a fortnight.
The man was then taken by police in a divisional van to Hobart’s Fountainside Accommodation which is designated to manage positive cases that do not require treatment in hospital.
He was not wearing a mask when he exited the police vehicle.
It was then revealed on Wednesday night that the man had spent time at two households, with Public Health authorities identifying and managing people in those homes.
Contact tracers had been scrambling to determine the man’s movements during the period he was out in the community.
Bridgewater locals have expressed concern the man was in their community.
Meanwhile, toilets in the Hobart Airport arrivals area’s male bathroom and a Jetstar flight JQ715 from Melbourne to Hobart on Monday night have been listed as public exposure sites.
Anyone who was on that flight or in the airport bathroom at specified times have been told to quarantine for 14 days, while anyone who was in the airport’s arrivals hall in its entirety are considered casual contacts and asked to quarantine for five days.
Premier Peter Gutwein said the man attempted to enter the state on the last flight from Melbourne on Monday night after twice having been refused a G2G pass required for passengers coming from Victoria.
He was sent to quarantine at the Hobart TraveLodge and was scheduled to be sent home on the next available flight.
It was discovered he was not in his room on Tuesday afternoon. Police found him at an address in the city’s outer northern suburbs at 4.45pm.
“He was immediately returned to hotel quarantine and additional security was allocated to him,” Mr Gutwein said.
“The man has been tested overnight and through this morning for Covid-19. It has been confirmed he has returned a positive result.”
He has been fined more than $3100 for entering the state illegally and for breaching quarantine.
>> SEE THE LIST OF EXPOSURE SITES
“Of course I am very disappointed,” Mr Gutwein said.
“But I’d make the point that my understanding is that in terms of this individual, they’ve been knocked back twice in terms of their Good2 Go pass, they’ve chosen to attempt to enter Tasmania on the last flight in the evening and they were picked up at our border.
“So our processes work and they were taken to the TravelLodge. Now we need to understand what has occurred in TravelLodge and how they have managed to abscond.
“These are hotels. They are not secure prison facilities and we need to understand just how this has occurred.”
After the positive test was reported around 11.45am on Wednesday, contact tracers began trying to identify the man’s movements.
According to public health, authorities were “identifying and managing” people in two households visited by the case.
“It’s been identified that he was aboard JQ 715 that arrived at about half past eight on Monday evening, we will have the flight manifest and we’ll contact all the people on that flight,” Public Health director Mark Veitch said.
The aircraft had around a dozen passengers aboard and the bulk were expected to already be in home isolation or quarantine, he said. Airport contacts were also being identified.
“We’re also in the process of identifying the contacts that this person had in suburban Hobart, after they left quarantine and those people will be quarantined and tested,” he said.
“There is no public interest in providing the suburb the person was in unless there’s a risk to the public in that suburb.”
Tasmania Police Assistant Commissioner Donna Adams said she was confident that police who had dealt with the man had followed appropriate precautions and were not at elevated risk of Covid.
“Tasmania Police always take a cautious approach when our officers are dealing with anyone that we identify as being positive,” she told reporters.
“And we’ve taken that cautious approach last night and we’ll take public health advice in relation to how we manage those officers moving forward.”
State Health commander Kathrine Morgan-Wicks said the same was the case for the Royal Hobart Hospital.
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