It is ironical that an hitherto unknown, tiny virus, originating from the obscure town of Wuhan in China, could bring the world to its feet. This is not the world’s first major catastrophe . We have had World Wars I and II, plagues and forest fires affecting different parts of the world. The last known major pandemic which spread like wild fire throughout the world was the Spanish Flu lasting from February 1918 to April 1920 infecting 500 million, about a third of the then world’s population, with deaths of 20-50 million. There was no specific cure and no prevention. People wore masks, schools and businesses were closed till the pandemic faded away.
COVID which first began in China in November 2018, spread throughout the world bringing it to a standstill. All governments reacted as they thought best-imposing lockdowns and stopping travel –both local and international. This was done to curb the spread of the virus and contain the numbers of those infected, so that available medical facilities could cope with the patient load.
The tourism industry was the worst hit. Transport ,both public and private was stopped and buses, airlines and railways were brought to their knees. All this had its repercussions on the hotel industry. All non-essential staff were laid off. Salaries of essential staff, were either held in abeyance or reduced to 40%. With no guests, restaurants were closed. Chefs made You tube videos to demonstrate their skills and recipes for the people forced to stay at home without eating outs or takeaways, thereby earning some revenue.
After the initial complete lockdown, slowly governments started easing restrictions. mostly making it voluntary. People who had faced a shattered economy, started moving on with their work and businesses. Obviously positive cases started piling up. Health establishments in the government sector could not face the case load ,not being geared to cater to such huge calamities. Private hospitals were roped in, who in turn charged exorbitantly to cover the risks they were taking.
Initially, the government went about testing the public and isolating the positive ones with or without symptoms. Obviously there were not only insufficient beds in government and private COVID designated hospitals, but manpower and facilities were wasted in the care of asymptomatic or mild cases. These only required isolation and monitoring ,which could be safely done in homes.
But seeing the fatality rate and the way the pandemic was spreading, anyone testing positive had the fear of God/death. Either the homes were too small to effectively practice isolation or there weren’t enough people for home monitoring. Besides there were children and senior citizens at home, who would be at risk if these positive cases returned home.
In the beginning, travellers returning from abroad or containment zones were compulsory quarantined with or without a positive test. These were at first kept in vacant hostels of schools and colleges. When these were insufficient, the government decided to rope in the hotel industry. Hotels of every type had to keep a minimum staff for its day to day working. Air-conditioning, mostly central, had to run to keep the closed rooms free from mould and damp. Some guests who continued staying since they couldn’t go back home, had to be catered to. Costs kept rising due to guest scarcity.
The government had even converted railway bogies, classrooms and industries into makeshift beds for quarantine. When this was absolutely insufficient, the hospitals both government and private tied up with hotels all over the country. Patients who can afford are kept in better hotels for eg. @5000Rs a day all inclusive, for 14 days of quarantine. Smaller establishments cater to the weaker sections. Very often various trusts pay the costs of keeping these patients here.
Rooms are regularly sanitized, resident staff nurses monitor patients through the day and doctors from the nearby attached hospitals make daily visits. Ambulances are kept on standby for any emergencies. Hotel staff are given PPEs and complete instructions to keep themselves safe. Kitchens too are running to feed these patients.
This is a win-win situation. Patients need a place to isolate themselves safely ,where they can be monitored and attended to in emergency. Hotels get some revenue to pay their essential staff salaries, the buildings are kept clean and mould free and regular maintenance can be done. As travel improves, these already operational hotels, can offer more hotel rooms for tourists who get heavily discounted rooms in partnership with the airlines. Of course they will be isolated from the COVID asymptomatic and mild cases.
It looks like this situation is here to stay for the present. By partnering with the hospital industry, hotels have been offered a new lease of life in these terrible economic times.
Thorsten Edu 