Covid 19 coronavirus: MIQ hotel complications are a ‘betrayal of trust’, says returnee

By RNZ

A returnee at the Grand Mercure Auckland managed isolation facility, where officials believe there may have been transmission of Covid-19, says stricter rules are needed.

She was among a group that was taken by bus to an exercise area with the returnee who tested positive while walking, but then returned on the same bus.

Health officials are scrambling to contact 250 returnees who left the hotel after genome sequencing showed a link between two returnees who were staying in separate rooms on different floors and arrived on separate flights, two days apart.

They both have the UK strain of the virus.

One of those cases is that of a person who tested positive on the 12th while walking and was transferred on the same bus as other returnees. The person was also on another exercise bus two days earlier.

It has meant that 23 other returnees have had their isolation stays extended to an additional 14 days, and returnees who have left the hotel since March 10 are ordered to stay home and immediately undergo a Covid test. -19.

Among the returnees who now have to stay longer is a doctor who is deeply concerned about what he sees as sloppy and potentially dangerous protocols in controlled isolation.

“It’s disappointing, it’s a betrayal of trust, and all New Zealanders should be very unhappy about it.

“I thought that the risk was stratified, that people within our zone, our bubble, would accompany us.”

After the walk, he noticed that everyone was sitting in a different place than they had been when they used the bus to leave for the first time.

“We were all mixed up and therefore we all made close contacts.

“They had a row between each guest, but they didn’t have a verifiable pattern, which I understand from Public Health is what should have been happening, which means we didn’t have two meters. [away from each other], we were more like 1.2m, 1.3m away from the next person.

“But also the fact that we weren’t in the same round-trip seating pattern … has meant that we all have to be classified as close contacts, because they can’t rule out who was not a close contact.”

“When we arrived, when we got off the bus, there were several people waiting for the bus and they immediately rounded up the workers who had brought us to the site and detained them to one side.”

She said that she immediately felt nervous after arriving in her room about the possibility of being exposed. He was then notified of what had happened and told that he would stay for at least another five days.

“[It] I felt pretty bad because it was obvious they had the result and they didn’t decide to reduce the risk by taking the poor person and taking us back separately on a clean bus, so they could cut our exposure in half. They had that time to make a decision about what they were going to do with us and that’s very disappointing because they could have mitigated the risk.

“It is a complete betrayal of trust, not only for the people who were on that bus, but for all New Zealanders as well. We are confident that our border will keep the virus out of our country, we have an elimination strategy and we are confident that your the procedures are good enough to prevent that, and it doesn’t seem like that’s happening. “

Later, he was told that he would stay at the hotel for an additional 14 days.

She said Public Health told her they were “unhappy” and “disappointed” with the inconsistent seating plan and that the proper distance was not maintained on the bus.

“The doctor who spoke to me said that she was the most serious one she had ever faced in all this time and she was very disappointed, and she was very apologetic about what had happened to me, and I’m sure she said that to every person with the one who spoke.

“The people who work here are amazing, but the system is letting us down and things need to change immediately. They can’t use those buses to get people to the site, it’s too dangerous.”

“They need to make sure they keep people with different risk profiles separate and that’s not happening.”

She was also disappointed to learn of the possibility of transmission within the facility through the media.

“Knowing that it is the UK variant and that the authorities are not telling me that is disappointing, it just feels like they are not treating you with respect, it is scary that it is the most transmittable variant. I am not surprised it has been broadcast, it is one of the most complicated variants.

He said he had seen some people at the hotel pulling down their masks to talk on the phone while on the bus.

Now he has written to the director general of health about his concerns and suggested that returnees who have to isolate themselves further be offered the vaccine like an olive branch.

He said there was some evidence to suggest that vaccination could help improve the immune response in the early stages of infection before the virus takes hold, although he acknowledged that the evidence was not yet strong.

He said it was justified to offer the vaccine to these returnees, especially considering that the government had already put in place a plan of exceptions to vaccines.

“Right now, we feel neglected and unprotected.

“Anything that is offered as hope helps reduce your response to cortisol, and when your response to cortisol is lowered by that empathy and that giving hope, your immune response improves.”

“I don’t have a problem with the people who work in the system, but the system has failed us, and the ministry can do things to start rebuilding our trust and confidence.”

He said he had not yet received a response from the CEO.

The Health Ministry declined to speak to Checkpoint to address some of the concerns raised.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, which is responsible for the quarantine and managed isolation facilities, also did not respond to Checkpoint’s request.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins was also unavailable to appear on the show, but told RNZ that he was taking the possibility of transmission within the Grand Mercure very seriously.

Hipkins said they were working hard to determine exactly what had happened between the cases and said there was no possibility of community transmission at this time.

“The only thing we’re doing to be absolutely sure of that is going back and testing the people who left the Grand Mercure facility during the period of time these two cases were there and that’s just a precautionary measure, it just means that if for some reason they have been incubating the virus, we will detect it. “

He said there was a relatively low risk given what they understood about the case motions, but they were acting very cautiously.

“It has been five or six days since the last possible exhibition event, so provide your [the returnees’] tests are negative, we should feel reasonably safe at that time. “

– RNZ