Macau now has 12 “quarantine hotels” providing about 4,500 rooms.
Speaking to The Macau Post Daily last Monday, the female owner of a fruit juice shop near the inn, surnamed Chao, said she was opposed to the government’s decision to use the hotel as a quarantine facility.
Chao said she only became aware earlier that day through the TV news that the hotel had been chosen as a “quarantine hotel”.
Chao said it was “dangerous” if the hotel’s security guards or other staff members would visit her shop.
However, Chao said she would not close her shop because it mainly provides a takeaway service.
Chao pointed out that her shop’s business has greatly been affected since early last month due to the COVID-19 epidemic, adding that she expected the nearby hotel’s operation as a quarantine facility to further affect her shop’s business. But she was quick to add that anyway she didn’t expect a sudden large drop in customers. “My shop has lost most of its customers since February already,” she said.
Another shop owner near the hotel, surnamed Wu, shared Chao’s opinion.
Wu, who runs a congee and noodle eatery just beside the hotel, said he had enhanced disinfection in his shop because of the hotel having been chosen as a quarantine facility.“I have not received any notification from the government in advance [about the hotel being used as a quarantine facility,” Wu said.
Also speaking to The Macau Post Daily last Monday, a female local resident surnamed Sou who works near Metropole Hotel – the fifth “quarantine hotel” that opened on March 21, said she was satisfied with the government’s measure to use hotels as quarantine facilities for local residents returning from overseas.
Sou said that the government’s decision to use the Metropole as a quarantine facility was safe for residents because the hotel is not near residential buildings. Sou said she was not worried that those undergoing quarantine in the hotel would be able to leave the property as there are security guards monitoring its entrance to prevent them from going out.
Sou said she was not worried that the hotel used a quarantine facility would pose a risk to residents’ safety because she was confident about the government’s ability to protect residents’ health as it has been doing “very well” in its novel coronavirus prevention work.
A policeman stands outside Metropole Hotel last Monday.
Pedestrians walk past San Tung Fong Commercial Inn, South Wing, last Monday. Photos: Mark Yeung
