MIQ staff face ‘huge’ stigma, some quit in response

Managers at managed isolation facilities say their workers are encountering unfair stigma in the community and the pressure has been so bad that some have quit.

Christchurch charge nurse Kerry Winchester said she had been shocked by the way some people had treated her staff when they realised where they worked.

Her nurses had been confronted in supermarkets, barred from going to their children’s school meetings or on to school grounds to pick children up, and some had difficulty getting doctor or dentist appointments. Winchester has had more than one staff member who found the barriers set against them so difficult they have resigned. ‘‘The perception is we are a risk to the public – which is simply not true.

‘‘We have not seen community transmission of Covid from managed isolation [MIQ] workers in the time that we have been running managed isolation facilities, so I think we can be fairly confident in our processes there.

‘‘Just treat anyone that you know working in these facilities with kindness. Every single agency working for managed isolation has the same goal in mind and that is to prevent Covid from reaching the community.’’

Staff working at thewaipuna Hotel in Auckland have had friends and family reluctant tomeet, and business contacts had cancelled appointments where hotel staff had already travelled to another city to meet, after they realised what the hotel was being used for.

Navy Lieutenant Samwilson, who is managing the managed isolation operation at the hotel, said his flatmatesmoved out when they learned what he would be doing.

And while they were still on good terms, he was frustrated at hearing the hurt and difficulty his workers were experiencing in their everyday lives. Wilson believed most of the negative reactions were caused by knee-jerk fears, which in most cases could be set to rest when people learned more about what went on inside the facilities.

‘‘Everyone is keeping their distance, everyone is wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment. If there is even any single breach then that gets noted down, reported, and it is not a disciplinary thing most of the time, unless it was intentional and then of

Staff at the Waipuna Hotel. Several asked for their full names to be protected: from left, nurses John and Vicki; workforce co-ordinator Tash; managed isolation facility manager Lieutenant Sam Wilson; site security manager Stuart; and hotel manager Shakira.