Without a precedent set and the closest reference being in Hong Kong, the decision to quarantine the hotel was clear, preventing the spread of the virus inside the hotel and within the island of Tenerife.
It all began after an Italian tourist had tested positive for coronavirus and with a hotel full of some 893 guests and 263 workers spanning across 24 nationalities, it was necessary to close the hotel, quarantine the guests and prevent further contagion.
This action was unprecedented, with the only two examples of hotel quarantining being Hong Kong in 2003 with the quarantine of the Metropole hotel during the sars epidemic and another, Metropark during the H1N1 outbreak in 2009. The response to the H10 hotel in Tenerife would set in place the necessary actions to combat covid19 and act as a reference point for the following months.
There were 71 professionals working on the hotel, ranging from doctors, nurses, translators, police and logistics management personnel. All who worked effortlessly to test and manage all the people inside the hotel. Some 800 PCR tests were conducted in the 14-day closure of the hotel and only seven were detected as being positive for coronavirus, six of which were close contacts of patient 0.
All these professionals working for one objective, prevent further contagion between the occupants of the hotel and to the further population outside the hotel. Clara Gironés-Bredy, medical director of the Tenerife Primary Care Management and who was the general manager of the operation recalls, "and it was achieved".
There were no other guest, workers or members of the response team infected during the quarantine or in the safe return to their homes.
Many of the actions taken in those first days lead to many procedures we now see as commonplace in response to the ongoing pandemic. The use of masks and social distancing was the first instrumental tool in combating the virus. With other measures introduced, being the telephone line 900 112 061 being introduced and still operating today. The tracking teams that trace contacts of infected patients are still in use today have their origins in the H10 quarantine.
These measures allowed the response to the virus to be very adaptive with Tenerife pioneering the drive-in testing centres, firstly in La Laguna.
The first departures of the tourists began on the 28th of February, using 50 flights after checking they were negative with a PCR test.
When the quarantine ended on March 10th the final group of 274 guests saw the doors open and finally, they could leave in what was an emotional moment. The quarantine has since been considered by those health professionals working in response to the situation regarding the hotel as a "small-scale dress rehearsal" for what was to come.