Newshub can reveal COVID-19 vaccination status will now be considered when someone applies to leave managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) to visit a dying loved one.
It comes after Brad Stephenson, who's fully vaccinated, was allowed out of MIQ for two hours to visit his dying dad only to be discharged the very next morning.
It's been a hell of an ordeal for Brad Stephenson to see his dying dad.
"It put a lot more stress on me than it should have," he told Newshub.
After a pre-departure test, Stephenson arrived in Auckland from the UK on October 15. He was taken to the Crowne Plaza and tested on arrival. After a day three test, his dad took a turn in Tauranga hospital.
"I've just been sitting in a box two hours away wishing I was here."
His application to leave early was denied. Stephenson was deemed too high risk. After 13 days, more applications and a negative day 12 test, officials finally decided to temporarily let him out at 2pm on Thursday - 20 hours before he was due to be discharged.
"For the last 10 days, I've gone to bed thinking that video call was the last time I was going to see him."
But his departure was delayed further because the paperwork to cross the Auckland border hadn't been done. At 4.45pm, he was finally picked up and driven the 209km to Tauranga Hospital.
Stephenson got just two hours with his dad, before being driven back to MIQ, and arriving at 1am. Seven hours later, he was released just to drive the 209km back to Tauranga Hospital.
"Dad has known I haven't been there and has been waiting for me and that's the main reason doctors think he's been able to survive this long."
Stephenson is fully vaccinated but officials didn't factor that into his application.
"How it's not part of their risk matrix is staggering," he says.
But Newshub can reveal the ministry changed their minds on Thursday and vaccination status will now be considered on all applications.
"It's completely inconsistent and illogical not to take into account someone's vaccination status when you're," says Auckland University Professor Des Gorman.
In another example of MIQ madness, just one person stayed at Wellington's Grande Mercure MIQ facility for a whole week.
The person was a medical evacuation and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) - which oversees MIQ - said it was because of cohorting, where hotels are filled with people on the same flights.
It also said fewer international flights have been arriving in Wellington, so 88 isolation rooms and 13 quarantine rooms sat empty, while Kiwis are begging to come home.
"It's like Fawlty Towers, except it isn't funny," says National's COVID-19 spokesperson Chris Bishop. "It's time to get rid of cohorting that allows one person to occupy a 100 bed hotel."
With tens of thousands of Kiwis desperate to come home, every single empty room is precious.
