Victorian breach sees hotel quarantine boss take leave

Giulietta Pontivivo, director of Infection Prevention and Control at COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria, has taken leave after flaws in the quarantine system were revealed last week.

Her absence comes after Ms Pontivivo’s colleague Matiu Bush was stood down by the Victorian government last week for breaches to infection control protocols.

Bush has been stood down for four weeks pending an investigation.

Last week The Australian revealed Matiu Bush had been reported twice for refusing to take a mandatory covid test, breaching protocols that he was involved in overseeing.

However, according to authorities, Mr Bush’s provisional standing down was more due to his attitude and not due to serious breaches.

The Australian reported that on 1 March, both Mr Bush, Ms Pontivivo, along with another staff member entered the Pullman Hotel at 12.57pm and were asked to sign in using their personal QR code, which they refused to do, stating they were recently vaccinated. They signed in the visitor log instead.

Later that afternoon, they entered the Mercure Hotel and did not sanitise their hands at the sanitising stations and did not change their masks.

Mr Bush also failed to sign out when leaving the hotel.

The incident has been recorded as an “IPC breach” and was “escalated by reception staff as they occurred”.

The CQV confirmed that clinicians were filling in for the pair, with a spokesperson saying, “Due to staff leave, the program’s IPC Director and IPC General Manager roles are currently being filled through acting arrangements – with highly qualified clinicians bringing extensive experience and expertise to the roles.”

Irit Jackson, 12th May 2021