Health officials in the dark on how Perth security guard caught COVID-19

The security guard was deployed at the hotel on that day as a “static” guard who sat in a chair at the end of the hallway on the same floor as quarantined guests.

Mr Cook said he was not required to wear a mask while he remained in that spot which was 3 metres away from the infected hotel guest.

“He was based, as I said, at a static location near the stairwell. At least two doors away from the room we think was responsible for the transmission of COVID-19,” he said.

“His role there was to monitor the floor to make sure no one left the room and, as I said, was sitting in a chair … a safe distance from the room in question.”

Mr Cook said there were seven visits to the room of the COVID-19 infected guest but contrary to previous reports, the security guard had not been the one to deliver them medication.

“The security guard did not approach the door during the day,” he said.

Old mask wearing policy was ‘right thing to do’

WA’s Director of Communicable Disease Control Paul Armstrong said the working hypothesis was that the hotel guest had somehow transmitted the virus to the security guard without leaving their room.

“This is not typical by any means. We know that viruses, such as this, in all but extreme circumstances, transmit from droplets,” he said.

“So our policy is, the security guards who are static security guards sit more than 1.5m away.

“We haven’t worked out how exactly that transmission event has occurred.”

Health protocols have been changed so hotel staff now wear masks all the time.

Dr Armstrong said the guard may have touched a surface that became infected by droplets from the hotel guest and inadvertently touched his mouth or nose.

“We know that this is a different virus, it’s more transmissible … [that] doesn’t mean that the transmission dynamics is different, that doesn’t mean that all of a sudden it is something that can be transmitted through the air,” he said.

“The learning so far is it’s … not a pathogen that can be transmitted via the air conditioning for example, it’s about air flow and ventilation in the hallways.”

He said it may have been a chance infection through a change of air flow when the guest’s hotel door was opened.

Dr Armstrong defended the old policy of guards not having to wearing masks at all times in hotel quarantine despite the system failure meaning everyone in the Perth, Peel, and South West regions had to wear one themselves and go into lockdown.

“Wearing a mask for 12 hours straight sitting in a chair is an uncomfortable situation. It’s very sweaty, it’s hot and the more you have it on the more irritated you get and the more chances you have of touching your mask, so there’s downsides to wearing masks,” he said.

“I think at the time the policy was put in place it was the right thing to do.

“On balance our policy position was masks weren’t necessary because the risk of infection was considered to be negligible versus the downsides of wearing masks. Now we’ve switched that position because of this circumstance.”

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He said there had been around 37,000 people in hotels under this policy and there had not been ad any breaches until now.

Authorities would learn from it.

WA Premier Mark McGowan said if he had been at the hotel he would have worn a mask.

“But obviously the security guards have been following the rules that have been put in place by the infectious disease experts,” he said.

“I’m very sorry for what’s occurred.

“This has been debilitating for lots of people. Obviously we went for 10 months without a single case and everyone in WA was very happy about that, this has been a shock to all of us.

“We have swung to action very quickly [on Sunday], within a matter of hours we put in place a huge number of rules.”

Mr McGowan said the three housemates of the guard were still in hotel quarantine and had been tested for COVID-19 again with the Department of Health waiting on the results.

Police and health investigation into what went wrong continue

WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said the security guard had been cooperative, was answering the questions being put to him, and the police investigation continued.

“There is nothing that he has said that we have been unable to corroborate nor is there any criminal offences that have been identified,” he said.

“The occupant of that room has the same UK variant strain. We’re very confident that is where … the security guard has been infected. In terms of his movement in the community, there is nothing to suggest he has been anything other than cooperative.”

Opposition Leader Zak Kirkup called on the WA government early on Wednesday to make masks mandatory at hotel quarantine sites and suggested some hospitals did not have enough PPE to use.

Mr McGowan rubbished the latter claim and said there was plenty of stock available.