Representatives from the provincial government and the Red Cross are meeting this weekend to discuss how the proposed hotel quarantine program can be made safer and better for non-essential travelers.
It comes, as public health has now confirmed 15 positive cases of COVID-19 related to the Fredericton Delta, including at least one employee, from Friday.
Public health has not declared it an outbreak, but has put in place procedures similar to those used for outbreaks in nursing homes to manage risk and conduct testing.
Until Friday, isolate 226 adults and four children in hotels.
Representatives from the Red Cross and the Departments of Health and Public Safety decided that “it would be a good idea … to take a break, think, and take a closer look at what we are doing,” said Bill Lawlor, provincial director of the Red Cross manages the quarantine hotels.
“Is there anything else we can do to make this safer for travelers, other hotel guests and hotel staff?
All aspects of the three-week-old program will be assessed, Lawlor said. For example, officials will investigate what hotels are currently in use, how they are received, and how non-essential travelers are directed to particular communities, “in a way that is very much about the safety of the public, particularly travelers and the general public, including staff of the respective hotels. “
“Is there anything we should tweak or change a little to make the experience better for everyone? There are multiple stakeholders. Of course, there are the travelers themselves. There are the health testing teams, there are the hotels themselves, and the communities in general.
“So we’re taking a closer look to see if there is any way to improve the current business in its current form.”
Lawlor expects some information on the outcome of the meetings to be available early next week.
Health Department spokesman Bruce Macfarlane said there had been continuous testing of Delta hotel staff this week. (Photo from CBC News File)
April 23The province announced that vacationers, business travelers, people moving to New Brunswick, including most students and people helping them move, will be required to isolate in a designated hotel for at least seven days, which is about $ 200 a day costs. If they test negative for COVID-19 on day 5, they can complete their 14-day home isolation.
The delta served as one of the quarantine hotels designated by the province from the beginning.
On Thursday, the Chief Medical Officer for Health, Dr. Jennifer Russell, the Delta is no longer part of the programand left only three. At that time, two positively linked cases of COVID-19 had been identified at the hotel.
As of Friday, Health Department spokesman Bruce Macfarlane said five “direct” cases in the Delta had been confirmed and another ten cases were direct contacts with previously confirmed cases.
Macfarlane didn’t say whether the cases were employees, isolating guests, or regular hotel guests, but previously said at least one case involved an employee.
Those who are in the delta will complete their isolation there.
Green chairman David Coon, whose driver is Fredericton South, is concerned about how well hotel staff have been trained on the isolation program. (Joe McDonald / CBC)
The Greens chairman David Coon said the positive cases in the Delta raise questions about what training staff at the quarantine hotels have received so they can safely interact with guests who arrive to self-isolate.
Lawlor noted that several hotels in the province have participated in an isolation program since the pandemic began. People who work in isolation, for example checking in, are allowed to stay in the hotel, report to work and return to the hotel, but nowhere in between. You will therefore need support for various things, such as the delivery of meals.
“So I’m sharing this to guess it’s not new to the hotel industry,” he said. “You’ve been doing this for a while.”
However, the Ministry of Health created some specific guidelines for the non-essential travel program that were shared with the designated hotels “to clarify the requirements in view of what is certainly a larger volume”.
Lawlor couldn’t immediately tell when the guidelines were shared. “It was earlier in the program and I know there have been a few revisions since then.”
Examples he provided sounded more like a guest orientation – that guests have to stay in their rooms, that their rooms are not cleaned during their stay, and information about tests.
Pressing further, Lawlor said, “They are” not dissimilar to many of the public health guidelines that exist in the community.
“There is a myth, if I could put it that way,” he said. In the early days of the program, the Red Cross received concerns from members of the public who thought anyone who went to a hotel was COVID positive.
“Which, in fact, never did. It was that they went there as part of the provincial government program to make sure they didn’t go to the community.”
“The guidelines are designed to ensure that the traveler knows exactly what is happening. They are designed to ensure the safety of the hotel staff.”
Provincial Red Cross director Bill Lawlor said the proposed isolation hotel program was “a logical step” for the province, which the organization agreed in principle to and willing to contribute to. (Shane Fowler / CBC)
An unknown number of Delta employees and their households are now isolating themselves.
Potential public notices for the hotel and its STMR.36 BBQ & Social restaurant have also been released for May 6-12 and April 26-22.
About 25 other public notices in the Fredericton area have also been issued, but it is unclear whether any are linked to the delta.
No information on the index case or the source of transmission was published.
The chief health officer had said she believed a replacement hotel for the Fredericton Delta was being announced.
That will be part of the review, Lawlor said.
If one is selected, it will not be announced.
The program stopped public disclosure of which hotels are being used as designated quarantine locations “for several reasons,” Lawlor said.
“It actually created some congestion and confusion among travelers and hotels where travelers reached hotels and called them to make reservations in some cases before they even had GNB travel enrollment program approval to enter the province,” he said .
In some cases, they were “panic-reserving” and called several hotels to make reservations to make sure they could get a seat.
Once people are officially registered and have received approval from GNB, the Red Cross will work with them to determine the “most suitable” hotel for them.
Seven hotels were named at the beginning of the program. The Woodstock Best Value Inn quickly declined entry, leaving six behind. Now there are only three.
Lawlor declined to comment on what had happened to the other two, saying it was up to the hotels to say so.
“I can safely say that there are currently no concerns about insufficient room availability,” he said.
When asked if three hotels will provide enough capacity in the future, particularly with the possibility of the Atlantic bubble reopening as early as July 1, Lawlor said that will also be part of the review.
“How many hotel rooms are needed and what makes the most sense to keep people as safe as possible for the foreseeable future, until the program is no longer needed?”
