As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc in Victoria with 73 new cases confirmed in the last 24 hours, questions around the root cause of the spike are emerging – particularly when it comes to security measures at hotel quarantine.
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A Melbourne security guard – identified only as George – broke a gag order and recently appeared on the Today show. During his appearance he revealed he only received five minutes of training before working at one of the Victoria’s quarantine hotels.
“And that was the PPE and everything, the box and dice and then we were sent up to your level,” he said, as per The Australian. George also revealed that security guards were only given one face mask and one glove for an entire shift.
According to George, as well as minimal training the real issue is that security companies have been hiring subcontractors as they come much cheaper than guards. “Every hotel quarantine has subcontracting happening and that’s the way the companies are making money out of this,” he said.
To make matters worse, The Herald Sun recently reported that private security firms in Victoria have been charging taxpayers for hotel quarantine shifts that were never worked – and even claimed that guards were sleeping with guests, shaking hands and sharing lifts to move between rooms and play cards.
“If those statements are true, that would be completely and utterly unacceptable and we would encourage the Victorian authorities to throw the book at them if any of these individuals or the firms have behaved inappropriately,” Health Minister Greg Hunt told Sunrise.
An independent enquiry into Victoria’s hotel quarantine system has been announced. According to 7 News, it will investigate how contractors at several hotels became infectious and spread the virus to their close contacts.
Whether the hotel quarantine allegations are completely true or not, there has clearly been some sort of breach of rules judging by the worrying number of cases of COVID-19 in Victoria.
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