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Our movers are here and our belongings will up to our new home today. Still waiting to hear a response from SA Health to a letter sent by Nick McBride on Tuesday appealing that we can isolate in our home instead of spend $4000 on a medi hotel. https://twitter.com/sahealth/status/1298894004633952256
Unfortunately there have been other cases like ours where local residents returning/relocating from Victoria have been forced by SA Health to cough up thousands for a despite having a safe place to isolate. These private directions contradict the public position of SA Health.
I understand this is in the name of public safety but there has been no medical evidence provided as to why this is necessary and the costs become as much as an overseas move. This is not a sustainable or fair way to manage people’s lives in a recession and a pandemic.
We have appealed our case because the costs are enormous, we have a safe place to isolate, we have successfully isolated before, I have a fractured wrist and mental illnesses and a dog who has severe separation anxiety. We need to be in our own home.
I spoke to someone yesterday who was forced to use a medi-hotel and also has BPD like me. Despite the promise of mental hesitation support during her stay she only received a call four days after she checked out.
I am sorry that I sound like a broken record but this is such an enormous cost for me and my partner or the start-up I work for to bear.
I’m extremely concerned for the welfare of my young rescue dog with severe separation anxiety who we were told should go to a kennel for two weeks. If we are forced to use the medi-hotel we will leave her with a friend who has dogs as she would not cope.
There has been little transparency in decision making by SA Health and SA Police and inefficient communication.
Bumping my thread with our Honey
Under this definition my partner and I would certainly not be considered to be travelling from a hotspot (Horsham). So why is SA Health forcing us to fork out $4000 to stay in a medi-hotel when we have a safe place to isolate when we relocate tomorrow? https://twitter.com/katinacurtis/status/1301740946539732994
There are have been no new active cases in my postcode of 3400 in a month.
Going to sleep feeling defeated. No response from SA Health to our email or letter from our local MP asking if we can isolate in our own home.
Woke up this morning, no response. The only phone number for SA health I could speak to an actual person was the media line. I was referred to the SA info line, who have given us the incorrect info twice or told to email SA health exemptions who we are still waiting to hear from
The SA Health self-quarantine advice states people must stay at a suitable place, the SA health social media says the medi-hotel is for those who can’t safely quarantine at their normal place of residence, the SA Covid info line said we could quarantine in our own residence.
Yet people like us coming from Victoria to SAare being privately told a different story to every other piece of available information.
Open to suggestions if anyone had any. We are leaving Horsham today and will go to the nearest border crossing to where our residence and talk to police there. The lack of response means we aren’t even booked into the medi-hotel so we don’t know what to do.
Here is my story as told to @Rebecca_Chave https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-24/mount-gambier-covid-19-medi-hotel-victoria-south-australia/12588898?fbclid=IwAR3HlKDVpA5aiPtZ3kdg55prDOy6qfnREzTKBaVa2h4QkwriFukR4hTWDEQ
We are going to leave Horsham within the hour and still haven’t heard anything. I just called the medi-hotel in Mount Gambier and they said there is a booking for us to arrive today. I said we hadn’t been told anything.
I told hotel concierge we had sent multiple emails to SA health including an appeal from our local MP appealing for us to stay in our own home. I also sent an email last night asking if we do have to isolate to please tell us what we need to do. I’m now waiting on a call back.
We have FINALLY received an email from SA Police telling us to go to the medi-hotel
The hotel staff member asked if we would be there by 6 because that’s when dinner is served. I said it would be highly unlikely as we hadn’t planned to be there then due to not having any info until now. They’ll save us meals that we can reheat in our room
Just rang the SA COVID line. They said it seemed like all Victorians were now being forced into medi- hotels and they were waiting for sa health to provide more information explaining why and also to update the public info.
So someone moving to SA from Sydney, where there is literally active Covid community transmission wouldn’t have to go to a medi-hotel, yet someone from Horsham, where there has been one new case in the last month & not community transmission has to pay $4000 to stay in medi-hotel
We are going from being relatively safe from COVID into a place that is high risk for possible cases https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-05/sa-new-coronavirus-cases-in-wastewater-and-hotel-quarantine/12633414
