Guest says family put at risk from lax cleaning which saw used PPE, bottles on ground at managed isolation facility

Auckland's Jet Park Hotel has housed 65 positive cases since March.

A returning Kiwi says he and his family were put at risk of catching Covid-19 by lax cleaning protocols at a quarantine facility reserved for positive cases and symptomatic people.

The man, who doesn’t want to be named, told 1 NEWS he and his young family were moved to Auckland’s Jet Park Hotel shortly after returning to New Zealand because his son was displaying mild symptoms.

The family was found not to be Covid-positive, but the man was shocked to find three used water bottles in their room when they moved into the Jet Park Hotel, as well as used PPE scattered in an outdoor common area.

“We found three half-drunk drink bottles under the couch and one under the suitcase stand left behind by the previous guests and missed in the check-out clean," the man said.

"This did not leave us with any confidence that our rooms were thoroughly cleaned and disinfected prior to our use… we believe we were at increased risk of contracting Covid-19 within the quarantine facility."

The Government’s Covid-19 response team said there had been 65 positive cases through the facility since the first case arrived on March 26.

Rooms at isolation and quarantine facilities are supposed to be subject to a 24-hour room turnaround between guests to allow for thorough deep-cleaning and sanitising, with the use of PPE.

The man said it seemed this didn’t happen in his room, which he and his family left after completing their 14-day quarantine yesterday. 

“It was nerve-racking being in a facility that we knew Covid-positive people were in and could be next door to us or in our room before us. Especially with little children, who are crawling on the floor in the hotel room and touching everything.

“We also saw used gloves on the ground near the PPE station and the rubbish bins at the stations don’t have any lids on them to contain the used PPE.

"Perhaps the gloves were blown out in the wind.”

He said he raised concerns with hotel staff and the Ministry of Health, but felt he was fobbed off.

“We were furious, they weren’t listening, they had no idea. It just showed their incompetence," he said.

"We felt that we were receiving standard rehearsed responses and that they didn’t understand what we were trying to highlight.

"When we notified the Ministry of Health of the drink bottles they thought we wanted our room serviced. They didn’t realise it was a failing to clean the rooms thoroughly in between guests.”

Housing Minister Megan Woods, the Minister in charge of managed isolation and quarantine facilities, said she will look into the man’s concerns.

“Obviously if there is used water bottles and PPE that isn't good enough. I’m happy to look into the substance of those claims,” she said.

The Minister said there are strict cleaning protocols at isolation and quarantine facilities.

“There's 24 hours allowed for deep cleans, these aren't a once-over-lightly of these rooms, these are cleaned in a way that is intended to make them hygienic and make sure they are keeping people safe.

"We do have very clear protocols around what our expectations are how the hotel and facility is managed.”

The concerns come as some staff in the facilities say they’re coming under increasing pressure.

One cleaner told 1 NEWS recent job cuts at her isolation hotel have been putting remaining staff under immense pressure.

She said some days she struggled to take bathroom breaks, and staff were only given PPE training two weeks ago.

“We expose ourselves to a huge risk,” she said.

“We pass by guests in the corridor every day, we wear PPE but we feel it’s not enough to cover ourselves.

"I wanted them to show me how to use the PPE so I could protect myself at the start of lockdown.

“We also have one person doing three or four people’s jobs, we work hard, twice as hard at the moment. I feel like all the hotel wants is money, they don’t care about our safety.”

New modelling released by Te Pūnaha Matatini shows the risk of an infectious Covid-19 case being released into the community from the border is low.

But, University of Canterbury mathematician Professor Michael Plank said that was dependent on strict conditions being upheld. 

”As long as we stick to that 14-day quarantine, we’ve got the day three testing and the day 12 testing, the risk of an infected case being released into the community is about 0.1 per cent, so it's pretty small.

"That's about one case for every thousand cases that arrive at the border.”

Professor Plank said that didn't mean Kiwis should get complacent, and that the modelling only applies to passengers coming in.

“There’s also a risk from workers, people working at those hotel facilities coming into contact with the guests and getting infected. We need to make sure there’s minimal contact between guests and workers at the hotel.

"We need good training of people in the hotels, good use of PPE.”

He said regular testing of isolation hotel staff could lower the risk of community transmission, which was also affected by how many people were allowed into the country.

“We have to be aware of the volume of people coming in, the 0.1 per cent is per case that arrives at the borders.

"At the moment we’re getting about 12 cases a week. If we went back and opened the borders up, we’d start getting a lot more cases and the risk would start getting a lot bigger. 

"If we started getting too many people that we couldn’t effectively quarantine them because we don’t have capacity that risk would increase a lot more.”

Do have a story about staying or working in a managed isolation facility? Contact 1 NEWS reporter Kristin Hall on kristin.hall@tvnz.co.nz

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