‘Vilified’ man with nebuliser speaks out after damning report reveals hotel quarantine failings

A man who was blamed for the COVID-19 outbreak at the Holiday Inn, which sparked Victoria’s snap five-day lockdown, has responded to a damning report which reveals he wasn’t behind the outbreak.

A confidential government report, obtained by The Australian, claims poor swabbing practices, which saw a woman with the virus swabbed in a hallway, were behind the outbreak.

The man with a nebuliser, who was blamed for the outbreak, was not responsible.

The man involved doesn’t want to speak publicly, but has this morning provided the following statement to Neil Mitchell: “I am very glad this has come out, though it continues to show there’s systemic problems that need to be resolved.”

“An innocent man has been vilified, has been crucified to hide failures in the system,” Neil Mitchell said.

“These people who we’re supposed to trust the politicians, the bureaucrats, they knew this. But still they allowed this man to continue being demonised.

“That is symbolic, it is outrageous. It says a member of the public can be used as a scapegoat to cover up a broken system.”

Press PLAY below for Neil’s response to the damning revelations

Victorian editor of The Australian, Damon Johnston, says the man was “hung out to dry by pretty much everyone within the Andrews Government”.

“We got hold of a secret government report dated March and what that report shows is that whilst the government was happy to let the impression hang out there that the man was responsible for this statewide lockdown, in fact, it was poor open door swabbing practices in a separate room down the corridor,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“The government have sat on this since March. They’ve known that this guy was innocent and they refused to correct the public record.”

Press PLAY below to hear more about The Australian‘s damning report