Coronavirus: Tears and confusion as Kiwis face surprise hotel quarantine for weeks

Charlie Gates and Debbie Jamieson20:23, Mar 27 2020FacebookTwitterWhats AppRedditEmail

Kiwis arriving in New Zealand from overseas say they are having to break their hotel quarantine to buy food amid confusion over meals and isolation rules.

One man, who did not want to be named, arrived from Tokyo on Friday and was taken to the Novotel hotel in Ellerslie. He was not symptomatic and had self isolation plans, but was not able to take his connecting flight to Wellington.

They were told by hotel staff they could go to a nearby supermarket to buy food, and they and others had done so, he said.

"There's been a constant stream of them going out all day."

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They later turned on the television "and (Prime Minister) Jacinda Ardern said we were not meant to leave our rooms."

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They had also been given paperwork saying they must stay in their rooms, the man said, but without being able to contact hotel staff by phone they were having to go out to reception, and other guests were doing the same or were outside smoking.

The travellers will not be charged for the hotel accommodation and food, with costs being met by Government.

SUPPLIED

Bill Stevenson and Kirsten Stevenson were stuck in Sri Lanka with two of their children, Josiah Barnes and Rebekah Barnes. They're now back in NZ, but say they are being kept in 'inhumane' conditions. 

Some meals had not been brought, and there was confusion on how to order them, the man said.

"At this stage we have no idea how long we will be here. It is pretty awful."

There also appeared to be holidaymakers at the hotel, he said.

Writer and theatre practitioner Andrew Todd arrived in Auckland from Vancouver on Friday morning with a boarding pass for his connecting flight to Christchurch.

He was never able to use the pass. Instead, he will be confined to a hotel room for at least two weeks with his meals brought to him.

"Before I left Canada, they had indicated that domestic transfers would be in service. The policy must have changed while I was in transit."

"I am going to be here for a minimum of two weeks, possibly longer. They would not give me an upper limit on the time it would take."

ABIGAIL DOUGHERTY/STUFF

Passengers were sent straight from the airport to Ellerslie.

When the plane landed in Auckland, passengers were taken off in groups of 16. He was interviewed and said he had a short fever a few weeks ago. His temperature was taken and he was given a COVID-19 test.

"It is a really thin plastic swab. You are asked to tilt your head back and they stick this swab right up into the top of your sinuses."

"It is the weirdest feeling."

He was then taken by a shuttle to a nearby hotel. But he said he did not resent the quarantine.

"They are not taking any chances. Of all the reasons to put such draconian measures in place, this is the best one."

Abigail Dougherty

People were ushered into the Novotel in Ellerslie by police in masks and gloves.

"In the long run, it will be much better for the country."

Bill Stevenson and his family went to Sri Lanka for a holiday. They were stranded there for several days as the country went into lockdown and New Zealand borders closed.

They managed to get a flight to Melbourne and then to Auckland on short notice on Wednesday afternoon, and had tickets to fly from there to their hometown Christchurch.

Stevenson said upon arrival to Auckland, he and his family were put on a bus with about 50 others including other families, where they were told nothing of where they were going, and were driven to a motel in central Auckland. 

"They told us 'this is where you will isolate for the next 14 days' and we were sent to our rooms with a drink and a sandwich and told not to leave," he said. 

ABIGAIL DOUGHERTY/STUFF

Passengers were ushered into the hotel by police in masks and gloves. Some of the passengers are wearing masks and gloves also.

Stevenson said the conditions they were staying in were "pretty inhumane". 

"The first room we had was leaking, the heating doesn't work in our new room, we were given no food until 3pm this afternoon and there's a family next door to us with two under 3-year-olds who've had the same treatment.

"To be honest we were being treated better in a third world country."

Stevenson said he and his family understood the need to isolate and were happy to so, but did not feel as though the current conditions were fair on them as New Zealand citizens. 

A New Zealand woman, who did not want to be named, said the surprise quarantine had left her stressed and scared.

She had been in Australia for a medical procedure and was heading home from Sydney to Wanaka to self-isolate. Instead she found herself trapped in an Auckland hotel.

Supplied

Christchurch writer Andrew Todd is quarantined for at least two weeks in an Auckland hotel room.

The woman had booked a direct flight from Sydney to Queenstown on Thursday - ahead of Friday night's deadline.

At Sydney Airport she was advised the flight was cancelled and was instead booked onto a flight to Auckland with a transfer to Queenstown.

On arrival in Auckland, she was taken by bus to the Novotel in Ellerslie.

"They had us queue in a line. There were physical screens with Ministry of Health workers behind them but there was still no information given. As far as I knew at that point they were still going to sort out our onward travel."

"The Ministry of Health officers said no one was leaving - that we were in 14 days quarantine and that after that is was unlikely we would be able to leave because New Zealand was in lockdown.

"I was extremely distressed and I collapsed on the floor crying."

Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern said on Friday afternoon that people being quarantined in Auckland were mainly people without self isolation plans.

"The numbers that are coming in at Auckland Airport who are being required to essentially quarantine in the approved facilities are predominantly people who do not have self isolation plans rather than just people who are symptomatic. Predominantly it is people who have rushed home and have no plan."

"They are required to stay in their rooms as you would expect."

Another Kiwi arriving from overseas, Sam Yates, was asked to stay in the Novotel for 14 days because officials would not let him travel home in an Uber.

"[They said] this was not acceptable and I would have to ask my wife or a friend to come and get me."

"Obviously I replied that my wife was in lockdown as were my friends and if my wife came she would have to bring my 1 and 7 year old sons, therefore risking infection across these three people."

He eventually left in an Uber.

"At every stage it felt disorganised, with a real lack of information or knowledge between each stage."

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120614723/coronavirus-tears-and-confusion-as-kiwis-face-surprise-hotel-quarantine-for-weeks