The first worker involved in Melbourne’s hotel quarantine system to test positive for COVID-19 was not a security guard, but a hotel night manager, according to leaked emails obtained by The Age.
In a pretty seismic development, the paper reports an employee of Rydges Hotel on Swanston Street fell ill on May 25.
Government officials became aware he tested positive the next day, telling seven security guards plus several other hotel and healthcare staffers to get tested and self-isolate at home.
The night manager was reportedly placed in self-isolation himself at Rydges on Swanston, but The Age states five of those seven security guards tested positive for coronavirus soon after.
That’s likely how the virus kicked off again in Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs, the paper reports.
How exactly the night manager contracted the virus isn’t yet known, and there’s zero suggestion he did anything wrong while conducting his duties.
Today’s report gives lie to the idea that Melbourne’s horrific second wave, which helped raise Victoria’s coronavirus death toll to 275 and plunged the city into strict lockdowns, was sparked by a security guard testing positive.
The Age reports a string of emails initially stated a security guard was the first to fall ill, before an official corrected the record.
Earlier, The Herald Sun reported on unverified claims of security guards having sex with quarantined guests, while a nurse involved in the hotel quarantine system alleged to the ABC that guests convinced workers to give them extra fresh air and cigarette breaks.
Those claims will be investigated by the ongoing inquiry into the hotel quarantine system.
You can catch The Age’s full report here.
