TV 2 has been in contact with an employed woman at a quarantine hotel at Oslo Airport.
The woman wants to remain anonymous, for the sake of her job.
She wants to sound the alarm about the conditions at the hotel where she works. TV 2 knows the woman’s identity.
– It is certainly not safe to be here. And it is not the hotel that is doing anything wrong, but it is complete chaos, she says.
Poor logistics
The employee tells of despairing scenes where there is bus load on bus load with guests, unannounced, and often 100 at a time.
– The communication with Ullensaker municipality does not work, when 100 people suddenly have to check in and have food, and we are not notified until they arrive, it puts us in a very difficult situation, she says.
She describes scenes with people close together while waiting for check-in, without the possibility of holding two meters. She says that people are hungry after a long journey, but that the hotel does not have food ready for them.
– There are also the guests then. They are often angry and irritated, and we become outward faces. It does not seem that some of the guests have familiarized themselves with infection control rules at all, and many do not follow what we say. This is not a prison, so it is difficult for us to do anything about it, she says.
The hotel staff can also not keep track of what guests are doing when they are not in the common areas.
– Families often ask for rooms next to each other, and we know people go from room to room, something they should not, without us being able to do anything about it, she says.
She emphasizes that the guests are in quarantine, and that they must therefore abide by the infection control rules that have been set.
– People stand close together in the common areas, and a number of people come to deliver food and clothes, and there we also see that people do not always comply with the rules, even if we ask them to, she says.
Worried about Easter
The pressure on quarantine hotels has already been great, and there have been a number of notices in it the media about chaotic conditions.
– I am absolutely worried about how this will be at Easter. There are quite a few here already, and the number of travelers will probably double at Easter. What do we do every day then? she asks.
In response to the criticism of Ullensaker municipality and the organization around the fact that too many passengers arrive at the quarantine hotels at the same time, they answer:
– Unfortunately, we can not control the influx of guests. If several planes come to Gardermoen at the same time, there will necessarily be many passengers at the same time, says Roger Sandum in Ullensaker municipality to TV 2.
TV 2 has been in contact with the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness to hear how the emergency preparedness for Easter is.
In the last week, they have been in a number of meetings with involved actors, to ensure that the preparedness is as good as possible.
– We are aware that increased demand can be expected in connection with Easter, and we strive to have sufficient preparedness for the number who will use quarantine hotels on arrival back to Norway, says State Secretary Lars Jacob Hiim (H) to TV 2.
– There is considerable uncertainty associated with how many are expected to travel abroad at Easter. We do not know how many people will now cancel travel as a result of the new rules for quarantine hotels and the authorities’ general request not to travel, he says.
It was on Tuesday that it became known that the rules for entry quarantine will be tightened. The new rules mean that everyone who arrives from abroad must stay in quarantine hotels, and they must spend 10 days here. In case of a negative corona test on the seventh day after returning home, you can leave the quarantine hotel.
3000 rom
Nor has Avinor managed to provide an estimate of how many passengers from abroad can be expected in TV 2’s inquiries.
Sandum in Ullensaker states that they currently have 1100-1200 rooms available at quarantine hotels, and that with increased pressure at Easter they can increase to more than double.
– We have access to 3,000 rooms, and are in dialogue with several hotels to be able to increase capacity further. In addition, we have contact with the City of Oslo to put in place a contingency plan so that they can relieve us if the progress should be greater than we always have the capacity for, says Sandum.
The concerned hotel employee encourages those who do not need to travel abroad to stay at home.
– The more people who are here, the worse I fear it will be. Stay at home, she says.
–
