An average of 85 people per week had been staying at the center until the end of June, but CQV said there had been a sustained increase in recent weeks during the winter surge in COVID-19.
“This is a very important service, especially during the winter period,” said a CQV spokesman.
Rooms at the Mickleham Quarantine Facility. Credit: The Age
There were 83 residents housed in Mickleham on Saturday, according to the CQV website, well below half its current capacity. On Saturday, 45,153 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Australia.
In a sign that the facility is downsizing, staff numbers have steadily declined from 550 in February to 331 in May and 186 in July.
Costs have not gone down in the same way, however, with $180 million set aside in this year’s state budget to pay for Mickleham until the government decides to close it. It is understood the camp has funding to remain open until the end of the year.
The Center for National Resilience, as the Mickleham facility is called, will be returned to the federal government, which will decide its future use. Possible uses include emergency accommodation for bushfire and flood victims or asylum seekers.
Mickleham’s facilities include a commercial kitchen. Credit: Paul Jeffers
Other proposals include short-term housing for victims of family violence or homelessness, but both have significant challenges due to the centre’s location on the outskirts of Melbourne.
Australian Medical Association Victoria president Roderick McRae said he had asked the Department of Health if Mickleham could be used to house National Disability Insurance Scheme patients who were stuck in hospital waiting for funding to the housing
He said these patients were unwittingly blocking beds in the acute hospital system through no fault of their own.
“As a middle ground, I asked if these people would be safely moved to the quarantine facility,” he said.
Victoria’s Commissioner for Quarantine COVID-19 Emma Cassar at the opening of the quarantine center in Mickleham. Credit: Paul Jeffers
“The judgment was that it was an inadequate facility to safely manage this group of patients.”
Despite its lack of use, McRae said the quarantine facility could still be useful for the next pandemic if it is maintained.
“It strikes me that we have to maintain some reserve capacity for the next pandemic, whenever that may be, which means mothballs, which means skeleton staff and security and ongoing costs,” he said.
“We hope this only happens every century.”
The Mickleham site when it was under construction. Credit: Joe Armao
McRae said that when he proposed, Mickleham appeared to be playing an important role in managing the spread of the virus in the community after problems with hotel quarantine.
The state government’s business case sent to the federal government in April last year said the quarantine was “expected to continue in some form for at least the next two to three years” with 2,100 international arrivals in Victoria per week .
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However, just 200 international arrivals stayed in Mickleham in its first two months of operation, 0.1 per cent of the 180,000 overseas travelers who arrived in the state.
“It’s almost like you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. There was always the possibility that you’d be left with a white elephant,” McRae said.
“You couldn’t not build it. With the information available, you had to.”
A state government spokesman said the past two years had “clearly shown us the importance of being prepared for what the future holds”.
“This facility remains as always an important investment in keeping our state and nation safe,” the spokesman said.
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“We will work closely with the federal government, which owns the facility, on possible future uses following the end of its use as a Victorian quarantine center during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
People staying at the center are charged $1,500 for an adult, $500 for an additional adult, and $250 for children over three.
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