Caravan parks used for quarantine
Adelaide holiday park to accommodate COVID-19 patients in on-site cabinsAn upmarket caravan park in the Adelaide suburb of Bedford Park has been set aside to accommodate coronavirus patients.
The South Australian government initiative will see some of the 60 self-contained cabins at the Marion Holiday Park house isolated patients and families, who will be cared for by nurses from the nearby Flinders Medical Centre to ease the burden on the hospital.
With the recent Federal Government announcement that all international arrivals will be quarantined, Caravan Industry Association of Australia CEO Stuart Lamont said in a statement that other “caravan parks stand ready to assist”.
“We have caravan park accommodation in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne which are all close by to international airports and would be ideally suited to be part of the solution around self-isolation for returning Australians from overseas announced this morning,” Lamont said.
“We are asking for cabin accommodation within caravan parks to be treated the same as hotels and motels with regard to workers and those required to self-isolate.”
“We can be part of the solution in the government’s initiative to stop the spread of COVID-19 and are frustrated that up to 38,000 cabins may sit idly empty around the country unnecessarily. We implore state governments to pick up the phone and activate our industry to support you in this time of need.”
Meanwhile, caravan park organisations are trying hard to provide updates to thousands of 'full time' RV travelers who remain on the road, on which parks remain open for essential travel.
Budget caravan park chain Kui is providing regular social media updates on parks that remain open to travelers, while Aircamp is also running a regularly updated website listing “campsites that are open during the COVID-19 pandemic to help those living on the road find a safe place to stay.”
BIG4 said in an online statement that “most of our BIG4 Holiday Parks currently remain open to provide essential travel to those in need.”
The Caravan Industry Association of Australia is urging governments to keep caravan parks open as an 'essential service', with estimates that more than 100,000 people including full-time RV travellers either rely on them for on-the-road accommodation or as a permanent place of residence.
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