7. Question No. 7—HousingDr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei) to the Minister of HousingQuestion No. 7—Housing7. Dr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei) to the Minister of Housing: What policies were in place at Rydges Auckland hotel that could have protected New Zealanders given the Minister of Health's statement that there was regular testing at the hotel"? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): There were a range of policies and processes in place in Rydges Auckland and in fact all managed isolation and quarantine facilities to protect New Zealanders from the spread of COVID. They are too numerous for me to list in full but they do include a site selection criteria that ensures that the site is suitable from a health and security perspective; staff training and induction; structured communication for all returnees; and policies on infection prevention controls including the use of personal protective equipment and physical distancing daily health checks of all guests and staff two COVID tests of every returnee protocols around room cleaning and in particular rooms where a returnee has tested positive including a hospital-grade clean using a Bioquell hydrogen peroxide machine and protocols that are initiated within the facility if any returnees test positive. We have always been open that these policies and procedures are built on and improved as we progress. As our response has evolved we have introduced and are ensuring compliance with two tests for all guests with a negative test required as a condition of release from managed isolation; we've introduced enhanced security measures and a 24/7 on-site police presence; and we have introduced testing for all staff on a voluntary basis initially and all staff testing commenced on 12 August. One hundred percent of all staff have now been tested at the Rydges facility. The member is probably aware and has seen the announcement this afternoon that we have also announced an additional 500 defence personnel for the managed isolation and quarantine facilities bringing the number at these facilities to 990 in total and bringing the number of defence personnel involved in COVID-related work to 1200. I draw the member's attention to the fact this is the largest deployment since Timor-Leste. Dr Shane Reti: What policy allowed the coronavirus-positive maintenance worker to continue working at the Rydges Hotel for two days despite reportedly having a cough? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: That was canvassed in the House yesterday. The fact that the worker passed his daily health check which consisted of his temperature being taken and of him not having a temperature which would be consistent with someone having COVID and the interview taken around his symptoms—it's already been traversed that this employee did have an underlying health condition that could explain the symptom he was showing. I think one of the things that we all need to remember is this is an incredibly tricky virus and there are many people around the world who do not present with symptoms such as a raised temperature but who do go on to test COVID-positive. Dr Shane Reti: Was it a compulsory policy for all staff to wear a mask at the Rydges on the day the maintenance worker had the cough and did he wear a mask all the time he was working? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: It would have been compulsory policy for all staff at the facility to wear a mask where they were in a situation where it was possible that they would be breaching 2-metre physical distancing requirements. Dr Shane Reti: Did the maintenance worker at the Rydges and the genome-linked - positive woman ever use the same communal spaces and if so how much time separated them? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: All our investigations to date have indicated they were not in the same communal spaces. We have used a variety of methods to track this. We have looked at key card data around the hotel to track movements. We've also examined CCTV footage from the hotel. There are two important facts to realise with this: one the returnee who entered the hotel on 28 July and was transferred to the Jet Park on 31 July only left her room on a couple of occasions and that is coupled with the fact that the worker in question we're talking about—a maintenance staff worker—is not generally in areas where returnees are. Dr Shane Reti: Did the maintenance worker wear a mask all the time he was working at the Rydges? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: He would have worn a mask when he was required to wear a mask when the policies dictated that he needed to—if he were to be in what was deemed to be a close contact with someone. But I reiterate the point that I made to that member that this was a worker that was not in routine contact with returnees. Dr Shane Reti: Does CCTV footage and swipe card records at the Rydges account for all activities relevant to this line of inquiry? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: We have made really good progress looking at that. I think the fact that the returnee in question was only out of her room for a very short period of time has made the tracking much easier throughout the hotel. It's something we take incredibly seriously—that we do have two cases that are genomically linked but that we have not been able to find a common link either a person-to-person link or a surface-to-person link. So we continue to look at all the options and all the avenues of investigation."