DARWIN, AUSTRAILIA—Hayley Hodgson, 26, was sent to a Covid incarceration camp in Howard Springs after authorities found out that she was in “close contact” with a COVID positive person.
Investigators tracked down Hodgson’s address after they scanned her scooter plates and showed up at her door to ask if she had been tested recently. Hodgson admitted she was “scared in the moment” and lied to the officers telling them that she had, but she had not. A few minutes later when she was caught in her lie after her name was not found in the system for testing, she was told over the phone that someone else was going to come by to “give her a test.” Shortly after, two additional officers showed up blocking her driveway. She was given the option to go in a COVID bus to the camp or be fined $5,000.
Howard Springs Camp will force in people who are COVID positive or people that have been recorded to be in “close contact” with a positive person. If you test negative for COVID, you are still taken to the camp for 14 days.
Prior to getting on the COVID bus, Hodgson was told that once she tested negative at the camp, then she could leave. When she arrived, she was told regardless of her status, she was to remain there for 14 days.
Staff in hazmat suits driving golf buggies drive the campers to their rooms and leave them there. Meals are delivered once a day. Campers are allowed to hang out on their deck that is about two meters big. They cannot pass the yellow line at the front of the deck, or they will be charged $5,000.
Hodgson was given a written warning when she went to throw something in the trash without a mask on. They told her, “You need to obey the rules while you’re here.” When she questioned the officers about the rules not making sense they told her, “When it makes no sense, or doesn’t seem right to you, that is the line and that’s what the law is.”
An officer at Howard Springs threatened to fine her $5,000 should she “breach again” passing the yellow line on her balcony without a mask on or to do anything other than laundry. He said, “we could even do that now, but we’re giving you a warning first. Just do the right thing, yeah. This has nothing to do with me, I am just here to make sure the rules are adhered to.” Hodgson was threatened with more time should she not follow the rules of the camp.
Hodgson told Freddie Sayers of Unherd News, “You feel like you’re in prison.” During her stay, Hodgson was “distressed” and asked to “go out for a walk,” but was instead given the sedative drug, Valium. She was tested three times total during her time at camp and never tested positive.
Hodgson called the CDC to seek answers about why she was sent there. They told her it was for “punishment” because she originally lied to authorities about having a test done following a meeting with her friend who was COVID positive.
