Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Frustration grows as Queenstown hospitality staff forced to stand down

Queenstown businesses are having to stand down staff as disruption from Covid-19 grows in the resort.

One company, which owns four of the businesses identified as locations of interest, has 20 staff in isolation.

As at last night, nine hospitality venues were listed as locations of interest in Queenstown, four of which belonged to one of the resort's larger hospitality companies, Republic Hospitality Group.

Republic Hospitality chief executive Blair Impey said 20 staff were isolating but the company had enough cover for the foreseeable future.

He said the company was already deep-cleaning its venues morning and night and had followed Ministry of Health advice. It had contacted staff who were close contacts and revised rosters.

"We immediately had to go down to the venues where some of them are already working and replace them. For example, last night, the Winnies team ran Sundeck.

"Habana was closed and Ballarat was open and we pulled people from everywhere to run Ballarat, including office staff."

Republic Hospitality's The Ballarat was listed with three separate contact events, alongside one listing for Habana Rum Bar and one for The Sundeck.

At 5pm yesterday, Winnies Gourmet Pizza Bar was added as a location of interest.

Nine hospitality venues were listed as locations of interest in Queenstown. Photo / Getty Images

When asked what the plan was if in the future more staff needed to isolate, Mr Impey said the company would take it day by day.

One source of frustration was that all staff working at the time of contact had to isolate, he said.

"We have been operating with servers separated by sections, so when someone has a Covid-positive case, our understanding was that we would identify who they are on the camera, then the one server would have to isolate.

"Ministry of Health — it felt like they threw that precaution out the window and just said all staff have to isolate," Impey said. "We think that's unfair."

Mr Impey said there were "absolutely" tough times ahead for hospitality and the current rules were not sustainable for Queenstown.

He was heartened to see people continuing to support venues.

"There's a portion of the market that here in Queenstown just want to get on and enjoy themselves."

NZone Skydiving was the second Queenstown tourism business listed yesterday, alongside Skyline Gondola.

Marketing manager Stephen Thompson said the business was working closely with the Ministry of Health and under its guidance was still able to operate.

He confirmed close contacts were stood down but he would not comment on how many.

Speaking on the outlook for the already beleaguered tourism industry, Mr Thompson said: "It's a challenge, but Omicron's here and it's a challenge we are going to have to face."

Locations of interest have also been identified in Cromwell and Wanaka.

After discussions with public health officials, a Cromwell medical practice was able to stay open.

Cromwell Family Practice GP Dr Greg White said the practice had been operating with a series of precautions, some beyond ministry advice, and that approach had proved to be justified.

Staff expected to receive results of tests soon.

However, the practice had still not received the rapid antigen tests it had ordered.

Armando Varlotta, owner and executive chef of Armando's Kitchen in Cromwell's historic precinct, only found out his restaurant was a location of interest two hours before speaking with the Otago Daily Times.

He said a nurse phoned to tell him the restaurant was a location of interest on two occasions, on Saturday and Tuesday.

"She said to keep operating as usual as they were only casual contacts," he said.

Mr Varlotta said he and his staff followed all protocols when serving customers and the staff were taking extra care to monitor their own health.

"So far, everyone's fine," he said.

Cardrona Hotel publican Cade Thornton, whose venue was listed as a casual location of interest during Tuesday's service, was also operating as usual under red light settings.

"We stick to the protocols here very strictly, and I think that's counted in our favour," he said.

"Obviously, if anyone gets any symptoms, they will get tested and self-isolate."