A senior civil servant responsible for managing infection control protocols for the Victorian Hotel Quarantine Program has resigned after being reportedly out of compliance.
Mattiu Bush, who has been involved in the program since June, resigned after being revealed by Victorian police minister Danny Pearson on May 4. Australian person He refused to take a compulsory test when visiting one of the quarantine sites. Bush is stuck paying the full amount.
“Last night I noticed a report about Mr. Bush and formed an opinion overnight that Mr. Bush needed to stop while waiting for a review,” Pearson reported to Australians on May 5.
“That’s not what I expect from senior leader CQV (COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria) senior manager, so I felt it was most appropriate to stop while Mr. Bush waited for the review.”
According to Australians, Bush had to undergo counseling after visiting the InterContinental Hotel on April 20th at 12:05 pm because he first refused to take the compulsory exam.
“I am responsible for the IPC and will disable that protocol,” Bush reportedly told members of the Australian Defense Force (ADF) working at the hotel.
According to Australians, ADF members then introduced Bush to Victorian police in the hotel lobby, but Bush “progressed to leave the hotel without signing out.”
Emma Cassar, head of CQV, said Bush was tested elsewhere on the same day.
On another occasion, according to Australians, Bush, IPC director Giulietta Pontivivo and another staff member entered the Pullman Hotel at 12:57 pm.
When asked to sign in using a personal QR code, the trio refused to be vaccinated and did not need to sign in, instead manually signing the visitor log.
Then, at 3:30 pm, when another person left the hotel, they entered the front door of the Mercure Hotel.
“Neither passed the disinfection station without disinfection and did not change the mask,” said an incident report obtained by an Australian. “When the reception staff approached, they went out for coffee, and said the hotel was empty anyway. They were asked to sign in and said they signed in at Pullman. I did. “
Bush was subsequently reported as an IPC breach because he “did not sign out when he left the hotel.”
“From an IPC (infection prevention and control) perspective, the risk was minimal, if not zero,” Kasar said, but admitted that their actions were not suitable for leaders.
Other incidents reported by Australians include, if necessary, contractors who have been or are attempting to access the Melbourne hotel site, even though they have not been vaccinated. Includes bureaucrats.
Almost everyone was told to leave when the vaccination status was known, but in some cases it was not confirmed upon entry.
The incident reportedly occurred at Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport, Novotel and IBIS at Melbourne Central, and Four Point Hotels at Intercontinental Melbourne and Sheraton.
Nebulizer and Victoria’s third blockade
According to documents obtained by Australians, the third blockade in Victoria in February was not caused by a man using a nebulizer at the Holiday Inn.
The outbreak caused a five-day blockade of the state in mid-February.
According to the leaked report, the “proposed working hypothesis” was that the leak was caused by a staff member who wiped a woman through an open doorway in the hotel. The virus then spread through the corridor before a man with a nebulizer “accumulated outside the door” in the room where he was staying with his partner and baby.
However, Kasar denied this claim, claiming that the state’s third blockade was “caused by a nebulizer.” This claim was also maintained by Acting Prime Minister James Merlino.
“The nebulizer was a key contributor and end to its outbreak,” Merlino said during a parliamentary question time on May 5.
Merrino also told reporters that the incident proved that the hotel’s quarantine was not a “purpose model.”
Opposition leader Michael O’Brien said the Andrews government had not addressed the flaws in the state’s quarantine system.
“Today’s exposure to violations proves that the government has not learned lessons from those tragic deaths or from subsequent investigations,” he said.
“The minister is responsible for everything that happens. Why did the minister not take responsibility for these shocking failures and resign?
“Every day, we see new evidence that the government has not yet properly quarantined hotels,” he told reporters.
But Mr Merrino said, “Even with the advice of the Liberal Party, it would still be blocked.”
Victoria recorded two new cases of COVID-19 from international travelers returning from 24 hours to midnight on May 5. Both people are in the hotel quarantine. No new cases acquired locally have been recorded.
On May 5, 8,163 people were vaccinated at the state’s vaccination hub.
AAP contributed to this report.