Covid 19 coronavirus: New Zealander at MIQ at Pullman describes reality after new cases

A New Zealander who spends his time in managed seclusion at the Pullman hotel in Auckland says no one can leave his room today.

Tenani French is on day 11 of her stay at MIQ and says she praised MIQ staff for what she considers a mostly secure system.

“The most important change is that now we are not allowed to leave the room,” he told the Herald Thursday afternoon.

“Yesterday morning they asked us to stay in our rooms, and they closed all the common areas. Last night they slipped a note under our door telling us that we also hope to stay in our rooms all day.”

Common areas that have since been closed include an exercise area and a separate smoking area.

Returnees in isolation could also use the hotel lobby to receive deliveries, such as meals and other packages, but now it has stopped as well.

Despite the changes, the New Zealander is happy to be back in the country and has no complaints about life in isolation.

While the news of recent cases has been “a bit puzzling,” French says, things are generally being handled well at the hotel.

He has kept himself busy watching many TV shows and doing yoga in his room and says he is impressed with the quality and portion sizes of his meals.

Everything is going well, he will leave the Pullman on Monday morning, after a final Covid test tomorrow (Friday).

“I haven’t heard anything about having to extend our stay here,” he said.

The Auckland man has returned to New Zealand from Los Angeles, California, where he lived and worked, and says that despite having new cases originating from the hotel where he is currently locked up, he still feels more secure than when he was in the hotel. US.

“Life in Los Angeles is unsettling because there is no real blockage,” he says. “We just got a stay-at-home order, and the only thing that means is that you can’t mingle with other people, but everything is still open. It’s very ineffective.”

“That kind of gray area, not knowing what is safe and what is not is very emotionally draining. You spend your time making sure people move 2 meters away from you, making sure they have the mask on, etc.” “Even though we are here where three cases have been confirmed, it still feels much safer than life in California because here they are taking active steps to find out what went wrong here and keep us safe.”

“I feel very safe and very fortunate to escape the situation in California,” added the New Zealander.

“I used to think that we have three cases in the New Zealand community and personally I know first-hand more people who currently have Covid in the United States.”

“It’s unfortunate [that we have these new cases in the community] But in context, we’re still very lucky. “

Ventilation system ‘a concern’ for Kiwi at MIQ

French arrived at the Pullman Hotel on Monday of last week, when the zero-day tests were introduced.

He told RNZ that for the most part, the MIQ system seems robust to him.

“We were all socially estranged in line, everyone had to wear the masks they provided us. They gave us a barcode to track the test results,” he told Checkpoint.

“Once we got the tests, they sent us back to our rooms and we were not allowed to leave under any circumstances until the test results came back, which was approximately 24 hours later. When we received the test results, they sent us text message, we still had to stay in the room until we got a bracelet.

“A nurse approached everyone who had a negative test. They did a temperature control in the room and then they gave us a bracelet that allowed us to leave the room to go to the exercise area.”

French said the use of wristbands was carefully controlled.

“I once forgot to put the bracelet on before I left my room. Before I got to the elevator, a staff member basically yelled at me to go back to my room and put it on. I haven’t seen anyone else walking around who doesn’t have one.”

The guests appear to have abided by the strict rules, he said.

“I have not seen a single person lower the mask or take it off. Everyone has been very aware of social distancing. It’s like we really have a bubble around us, people walk around other people.

“There aren’t many times when we’re close enough to someone that it’s a problem. I think the main point of congestion is the elevator lobby. And there’s a member of staff looking at it, there are stickers on the floor. from where you are supposed to stand. You have to disinfect before and after using the elevator. “

French said the elevator was not cleaned after each use. “They have a disinfection station on each floor, so you have to disinfect before pressing the button, and then again when you get to the ground floor after exiting the elevator.”

Separating the different groups of guests arriving at the hotel appeared to be effective, he said.

“What we have noticed is that they will post the hours for the lobby and the exercise area in each of the elevator spaces on the floors, and they will close both areas if a new bus full of people comes in.

“So we can’t go to the lobby or the exercise area when new people check in. They keep it pretty separate, the newcomers are very separate from us.

“The time they gave us to leave next week was pretty early in the morning, which is actually before the exercise area opens. I’m not sure if that’s intentional to try to keep the two groups separate.”

French said they had not initially heard from the facility management regarding the new Covid-19 case in Northland, but they found out from watching the news.

“For the most part, it feels very safe and very well managed. I will say that it makes sense perhaps to require people to isolate themselves between their final tests and departure.

“I think it makes perfect sense because there are times when you just bump into someone in the hallway or outside in the recreation area.

“That would probably be the one thing that I think needs to be addressed and probably should be addressed.

“Another thing I would say is that there are no QR codes or use of tracking apps within MIQ [managed isolation and quarantine], which I think might be a good idea to help them track people, but at least help us develop good behavior once we get out.

“The people who leave the facilities are the people most at risk in the community, so it would be good to incorporate that use while we are here.”

The Health Ministry confirmed Monday that the new community case of Covid-19 was traced to another MIQ guest at the Pullman Hotel, and is analyzing the possibility of transmission through the ventilation system.

French said it was a concern. “We’ve had the windows open the whole time trying to get some circulation and some fresh air. It’s nice that we have windows that open, but it’s definitely a concern.”

– with RNZ