Locals bussed to hotel

Quarantine move questioned

THE decision to place Bridgewater residents in hotel quarantine rather than allowing them to stay in their homes was based on “risk factors”, the Department of Health says.

The department won’t reveal how many people from the northern Hobart suburb are at the Airport Travelodge.

The unusual decision not to allow residents to quarantine at home has been criticised by opposition parties.

An unknown number of Bridgewater residents were rounded up, put on a bus and placed into hotel quarantine in a radical departure from standard practice.

The residents had been identified as close contacts of Covid-positive case Tim Gunn, but were not given the option of quarantining at home as would usually be the case.

Labor MP Ella Haddad said it raised questions about why the Bridgewater residents were singled out for hotel quarantine when others had been allowed to isolate at home.

“There must’ve been other instances where the government had cause to worry about potential exposure. Did they do the same there, or is this a particular unfair treatment of this group of citizens?” she said.

“If they have rounded up a whole heap of people into hotel quarantine, what other measures have they taken to increase security staff, camera surveillance, and first aid help?”

Greens health spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said she wanted to know who made the call and what the reasoning was. “Postcode shouldn’t come into this. There should be no difference in how people exposed to Covid are treated,” Dr Woodruff said.

“We hope the decision was made at the direction of public health. If not, we want to know how the decision was made.”

Brighton Council Mayor Leigh Gray said he trusted the government was acting in the best interests of the community. “I put my faith in the government and the Health Department to do what they consider is the right thing,” Mr Gray said.

A Health Department spokesperson said the decision was based on a number of different risk factors.

“A private bus contractor was used last week to transport a number of close contacts of the recent positive Covid-19 case from their homes to hotel quarantine at the Travelodge Hobart Airport,” the spokesperson said.

“The contacts were required to be in hotel quarantine to ensure the safety of the community from possible further spread of Covid-19.

“The place of quarantine is decided by a risk assessment. Factors such as suitability of accommodation and the number of people at a residence are part of that risk assessment.”

The spokesperson did not say how many people had been rounded up for l quarantine.