Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[Must...Fly!]

It’s time that positive people are separated and put into a dedicated Covid isolation area and not kept in the same location as likely non Covid people.

Isn't that the point of the health hotels?

 

[RooFlyer]

Isn't that the point of the health hotels?

Except that a number of the 'HQ' hotels also accept regular guests (on separate floors).

 

[lovetravellingoz]

It’s time that positive people are separated and put into a dedicated Covid isolation area and not kept in the same location as likely non Covid people.

In Vic positive cases from HQ go to the medi-hotels.

PS. Just in case that name means different things in different states the medi-hotels in Vic are only for people who have tested positive.

 

[Pushka]

Except that a number of the 'HQ' hotels also accept regular guests (on separate floors).

But that isn't the issue here, is it.

Next week SA, in addition to the Med Hotels for quarantine people, is also setting up a speciality hospital environment for travellers etc testing positive. Manned by Health and Police only.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Except that a number of the 'HQ' hotels also accept regular guests (on separate floors).

Isn't that only in WA?

 

[bcworld]

It’s time that positive people are separated and put into a dedicated Covid isolation area and not kept in the same location as likely non Covid people.

Doesn't that already happen? Vic refers to them as 'hot hotels'.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Doesn't that already happen? Vic refers to them as 'hot hotels'.

= Novotel "hot hotel" in Melbourne's South Wharf.

Not sure if there is more than one currently.

They started at least back in June in Vic. They were also used for positive hospital/health staff who could not is isolate at home, as well as for positive returned travellers..

Returned travellers who test positive for coronavirus during their mandatory 14-day stay in Melbourne hotels are being moved via ambulance to a CBD facility dubbed the "hot hotel" by security and health staff working for the state.

The hotel where patients are moved to is referred to by security staff and healthcare workers as the city's "red" hotel – although some The Age spoke to about the quarantine program refer to it simply as the "hot hotel"

'Hot hotel': COVID-19 patients moved to CBD building

Returned travellers who test positive for COVID-19 during their mandatory 14-day stay in Melbourne hotels are being moved via ambulance to a CBD facility.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Must...Fly!]

= Novotel "hot hotel" in Melbourne's South Wharf.

Not sure if there is more than one currently.

They started at least back in June. They were also used or positive hospital staff who could not is isolate at home, as well as for positive returned travellers..

The hotel where patients are moved to is referred to by security staff and healthcare workers as the city's "red" hotel – although some The Age spoke to about the quarantine program refer to it simply as the "hot hotel"

'Hot hotel': COVID-19 patients moved to CBD building

Returned travellers who test positive for COVID-19 during their mandatory 14-day stay in Melbourne hotels are being moved via ambulance to a CBD facility.

www.theage.com.au

And holiday inn on Flinders Lane

 

[Princess Fiona]

Except that a number of the 'HQ' hotels also accept regular guests (on separate floors).

It’s in WA and the govt gives them a discount to have a staycation there.

 

[Pushka]

= Novotel "hot hotel" in Melbourne's South Wharf.

Not sure if there is more than one currently.

They started at least back in June in Vic. They were also used for positive hospital/health staff who could not is isolate at home, as well as for positive returned travellers..

Returned travellers who test positive for coronavirus during their mandatory 14-day stay in Melbourne hotels are being moved via ambulance to a CBD facility dubbed the "hot hotel" by security and health staff working for the state.

The hotel where patients are moved to is referred to by security staff and healthcare workers as the city's "red" hotel – although some The Age spoke to about the quarantine program refer to it simply as the "hot hotel"

'Hot hotel': COVID-19 patients moved to CBD building

Returned travellers who test positive for COVID-19 during their mandatory 14-day stay in Melbourne hotels are being moved via ambulance to a CBD facility.

www.theage.com.au

So if that's the case why are people getting Covid from other hotel guests?

Post automatically merged: Feb 9, 2021

In Vic positive cases from HQ go to the medi-hotels.

PS. Just in case that name means different things in different states the medi-hotels in Vic are only for people who have tested positive.

In SA, Med Hotels are for everyone arriving from overseas. They about to open a specific Covid centre for positive cases.

 

[love_the_life]

It’s in WA and the govt gives them a discount to have a staycation there.
View attachment 240546View attachment 240547View attachment 240548

The idea of the staycation discount is not the problem - the inclusion of these hotels is.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

So if that's the case why are people getting Covid from other hotel guests?

Well that is the $64 dollar question.

Will be interesting to read the final report.

Perhaps someone came in who became a super spreader, whether it was the new strain or not, after admission and after their first test.. ie they had been infected but could not yet generate a positive test.

I wonder if aircrew also sometimes use that hotel?


Sutton indicated that the cases all revolved around one floor of the hotel.

 

[jase05]

Hearing that all guests will be moved from the Holiday Inn in the next day or so and then it won’t be used for HQ going forward

 

[jase05]

Sutton indicated that the cases all revolved around one floor of the hotel.

I mentioned earlier that there has been talk that cleaners were given the wrong instructions on which floor needed a deep clean and so a whole floor may have not been cleaned correctly. Perhaps a positive case was moved from the hotel to the “hot hotel” and their room wasn’t cleaned properly?

 

[jakeseven7]

Well that is the $64 dollar question.

Will be interesting to read the final report.

Perhaps someone came in who became a super spreader, whether it was the new strain or not, after admission and after their first test.. ie they had been infected but could not yet generate a positive test.

I wonder if aircrew also sometimes use that hotel?


Sutton indicated that the cases all revolved around one floor of the hotel.

Something has clearly happened on that floor...

I'm sure they will figure it out...

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Daily Vic DHHS Report.
Media Release
9 February 2021

Extract:

New case in a hotel quarantine resident​

A resident of the Hotel Quarantine facility at Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport has tested positive to coronavirus (COVID-19) after completing their 14-day quarantine and being cleared for release. A strong public health response is now underway that builds on measures already in place.

The individual tested negative a number of times during her quarantine period and departed the facility on 7 February. She sought testing in response to the current outbreak at the Holiday Inn, returning a positive result today, 9 February.

Interviews with the individual are underway. Early indications are that the individual has not left her home since exiting Hotel Quarantine on 7 February, other than to obtain a test in a COVIDsafe setting.

Updates to exposure site locations (if any), primary close contacts and other information will be provided as soon as possible.

Primary close contacts will include past residents of the Holiday Inn who completed their quarantine period on 7 February. They will be required to isolate for 14 days. We are in contact with this group. This will come as difficult news to them, but we are being as cautious as possible in our response to this outbreak.

So 14 + 14 = 28 days in total for some.

Update: Holiday Inn Airport case​

A full public health response to this case is continuing.

Genomics from the case indicate it is a variant of concern. It is an identical sequence to a family who were staying at the Holiday Inn.

Our public health actions were always based on the assumption this was both the mode of transmission and the strain in question and these results confirm that. At this stage there is no clear suggestion of an infection prevention and control protocol breach.


Interesting from the above that this cluster seems to have started with a family. Perhaps in multiple members were infectious it could have led to a localised high airborne viral load, or fomite transmission.

Update: Grand Hyatt case​

The Department is continuing to follow up close contacts of a Hotel Quarantine worker at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne who has tested positive to coronavirus (COVID-19) on Wednesday 3 February.

There are now 1318 primary close contacts in total identified with this case.

This number includes 21 social and household primary close contacts. All have tested negative.

There are 661 workplace contacts, who also have all tested negative.

There are still 14 identified public exposure sites that were visited by the Grand Hyatt worker.

As of this morning, 636 primary close contacts have now been identified in connection with these public exposure sites, up from 584.


So all in all they do rapidly quarantine and test a lot of people who may have had even quite minor contact.

 

[Must...Fly!]

So this family who stayed at the Holiday inn at the airport -were they moved to the Novotel South Wharf or Holiday Inn in the city when discovered positive?

 

[nutwood]

I wouldn't be amazed to hear that transmission within hotel quarantine has been quietly ticking along in the background right the way through this saga. It seems a lot of people are diagnosed in the latter stages of their stay, whereas when the same virus escapes into the community, those contracting it are picked up in a few days.

 

[Pushka]

Today we learnt that with the tennis cohort who stayed in SA, one of them tested positive but it was deemed to be an old infection so nothing was disclosed at the time.

 

[RooFlyer]

For those asking the question: 'If it's the highly infections UK variant in the recent Victorian HQ cases, why no further transmission?' The Australian has a piece this morning with opinion of Immunologist John Dwyer, an emeritus professor at the University of NSW.
Why didn’t others get hotel coronavirus? Probably paywalled, so try googling the headline, and I can't quote much of it, but here is some:

It’s the big question around Australia’s recent infections of workers who acquired coronavirus from hotel quarantine: why did they not pass it on to anyone else, despite all being infected with the highly contagious UK strain?
...
Perhaps it was just good luck, but there could be a medical explanation. Immunologist John Dwyer, an emeritus professor at the University of NSW, has one theory. “It’s possible these workers got infected by people who are close to the end of their course with COVID-19, a person who was shedding the virus but not in an infectious form,” he says.

“In that case, you would still be able to contract the virus, but not to pass it on because it’s a non-viable virus. You could pick up remnants of the virus but it wouldn’t be in a form that’s going to cause any disease or multiply in the person who is infected.”

Professor Dwyer says the PCR tests that diagnose COVID-19 are extremely sensitive and would give a positive result even if an infected person has contracted only remnants of the virus.

Anyway, just for info - he seems pretty well qualified.

I've never understood the concept of contracting a 'non viable' or 'weak' virus', or 'not enough viral load'. I've always thought that even a single viral particle, if not killed by the body's immune system, if it infects a cell, will replicate vastly, then they go on and do the same, and you are off to the races. Or is it that even with COVID, the body's system WILL be able to kill a certain number of viruses, and its only if you get a 'full on' dose that you yourself will get totally infected?