A man who let another guest into his hotel room in managed isolation says the Ministry of Health is making him wait until their test results come back before he can leave.
Chad Rose flew in from Perth two weeks ago and has been staying at Auckland's Waipuna Hotel.
Rose finished his stay on Monday and decided to let another guest, who was on his third day of quarantine, into his hotel room to take some leftovers.
"On the 14th day, when I was all ready to leave, I broke my bubble with another person. He came and got my milk and coffee because I was leaving," Rose told Magic Talk's Leah Panapa on Thursday.
Rose said the nurses at the facility found out about the visit when they came to check his temperature.
"The nurses... saw him leaving and when they checked him they asked, 'Were you in the other room?' and he said, 'Yeah I was grabbing the milk' and they said, 'You are not allowed to do that' and we said, 'Yep fair enough'. We did break the rules."
Rose now has to wait until the other guests test results come back before he can leave. While he knows he made a mistake, he doesn't understand why the Ministry of Health won't retest him as well so he can leave.
"They weren't testing me. He [the other man] had his test in the morning and then when they found out that he was in my bubble they said I had to wait for his tests to come back.
Rose said it has been three days and they still don't have the man's results.
"His hasn't come back but they retested him again today [Thursday]. I've asked them, 'Why don't you test me?' And they haven't, they've just said, 'No we will wait for his test results'."
"I thought it would be easier to test me rather than hold me up on the taxpayer and keep me in a motel and feed me."
"I thought it would be easier to just get a test done, wait for the results and send me on my way or keep me if I have [COVID-19]."
Rose is also frustrated by the lack of communication after it took three days for him to be told what was happening.
"They just kept saying 'Oh we are just waiting to hear from the top, we sent your information to the top'."
On Thursday, he received a letter that said because of his contact with the other man he doesn't meet the threshold to leave and has to wait until the test results come back.
On Thursday the Government announced there would be a permanent police presence at quarantine facilities after two people escaped in a week.
Megan Woods, the minister in charge of isolation facilities, said anyone who breaks out doesn't "deserve to join the team of 5 million".
"Anyone who chooses to break out of these facilities is committing a reckless act of selfishness and we will come down on them with the full weight of the law," Woods told reporters on Thursday.
"They are putting New Zealanders at risk and undermining our efforts to keep COVID out of the community."
