A family with COVID-19 has been transferred to a different managed isolation and quarantine facility after the mother, enraged after waiting hours for her children's meals, erupted in an aggressive outburst against staff, leaving her room against protocol and screaming abuse at personnel.
In a livestream shared to her Facebook on Wednesday afternoon, the woman, who Newshub has decided not to identify, claimed that after a long wait for their lunch, her children were given a "half-eaten" pizza by staff at the Novotel & Ibis Ellerslie, a hotel currently operating as a quarantine facility in Auckland.
In the video, titled 'F**k yous Novotel', the woman - who is a positive case of COVID-19 - filmed herself striding down the hallway of the hotel, declaring she was "f***ing fuming".
Although the woman was wearing a mask, it is against regulation for people to leave their rooms while infectious with the virus. Movement outside of the rooms is allowed only in a strictly controlled manner.
The woman then holds up the offending pizza box: "Pizza. Lunch. And they f***ing bring it and it's f***ing half-eaten… they don't want us to f***ing come down. This is what they're going to f***ing get. Who the f*** does this?"
The woman enters the lobby and screams for the staff member on reception, claiming they had given her "attitude" when she called the desk about the defective pizza.
"Open the f***ing office!" she yells. She then names the staffer in question, saying she better "get the f*** out here" and referring to her as a "dumb b***h". It appears a Defence Force worker tries to confront the woman, who she tells to "get your army people". She then throws an item at the wall.
After hurling profanities at military personnel who attempt to intervene, the woman leaves the lobby and returns to her room, continuing her tirade.
"They're f***ing treating us like we're f***ing zombies," she rants. "They gave me pizza that's already eaten to my kids… I thought I'd go live to show you guys the f***ery here."
The video has since been viewed more than 34,000 times.
In subsequent posts to her Facebook, the woman explained that her children had waited hours for their lunch that day and earlier in their stay, it had taken a day for staff to provide Pamol for her sick child.
In a statement, Brigadier Rose King, the joint head of managed isolation and quarantine, said the pizzas had been delivered to the family at around 3pm.
King said she has been assured the food was not given to the family "incomplete" but had likely become "cosmetically damaged" during the delivery.
King said "sometimes things don't go perfectly and we apologise for that", but added that the woman had been abusive to staff over the phone.
She confirmed staff who were confronted by the COVID-positive woman are now isolating due to the "high-risk bubble breach". Another staffer did not return to work on Thursday over fears for their safety.
"I understand that being in quarantine, especially with children, can be very stressful, even more so for New Zealanders who never expected to be in that situation," King said. "Abuse towards anyone, however, is not acceptable."
Although the woman had been wearing a mask during the confrontation, the footage shows it slipping below her nose multiple times.
The woman has since posted a number of other live videos to Facebook to keep her followers updated, saying on Thursday that staff had been attentive following the blow-up and their meals had been delivered promptly.
In a following video, the woman said she believed elderly people and families with small children should be prioritised at meal times.
"It took me being an angry mum… for them to do that," she said, adding that her reaction may have been a bit "over the top".
She confirmed in a video on Thursday afternoon that at their request, the family were being transferred to a different quarantine facility.
In her latest post, the woman claimed they never received an apology from the staff at the Novotel & Ibis Ellerslie and urged others in quarantine "to stand your ground against essential workers who think it's okay to look down on us".
On the same day, a person with COVID-19 managed to escape from the Novotel & Ibis Ellerslie. It's understood the infectious man spent 12 hours in the community.
