Australian Test captain Pat Cummins and Covid positive case ate at Little Hunter on Hindley Street
The Covid-19 rules that wiped Australia’s new captain out of the Ashes Test would not have followed the same line in other cities. Here’s what he would have copped there.
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A steak dinner and South Australia’s seven-day quarantine rule for close Covid contacts swept captain Pat Cummins out of the Adelaide Test in circumstances that would not have ruled him out in other states.
Australia was forced to make Cummins a sacrificial lamb in Adelaide to ensure the safety of the entire Ashes was not jeopardised, as player freedoms now hang by a thread.
In Victoria, Pat Cummins may have been able to play the Test; in WA, Tasmania or the NT he would have also missed the Boxing Day Test; while in Queensland he might have put team members into isolation if they were defined as people he usually lives with.
Different rules regarding “close contacts” around Australia’s states and territories mean different levels of quarantine.
NSW: Close contacts must self-isolate for seven days, get a test immediately and again on day six, then for the following seven days work from home if possible and not attend a high-risk setting, and get tested again on day 12.
Victoria: Various rules apply. Social contacts are recommended to get a test and isolate until receiving a negative result. A social contact is if you have spent time with someone (who does not live with you) who has Covid. “There are some circumstances where the Department of Health may step in and provide advice to other types of contacts, such as strangers at a public venue who didn’t know a case,” its website states. “This advice may require you to get tested or quarantine. If a case attended a high-risk setting with you (such as a nightclub, hair salon or gym) the department may advise you to get tested and isolate until you get a negative result.”
Queensland: Close contacts must quarantine for 14 days. People must also quarantine for 14 days if told by another state, territory or safe travel zone country authority that you are a casual contact of someone with Covid. You must also tell the people you usually live with that you have been identified as a close contact, as they may now be classified as secondary contacts and will also need to quarantine.
WA, Tasmania and NT: Close contacts must quarantine for 14 days.
ACT: Vaccinated close contacts must quarantine for seven days, unvaccinated for 14 days.
How a city steakhouse was hit by Ashes Covid drama
A city steakhouse in Adelaide’s party precinct has become ground zero in Australian Test cricket captain Pat Cummins’ Covid scare.
Cummins was eating at The Little Hunter Steak and Ale Bar, off notorious Hindley Street in the city’s West End, when he came into close contact with a Covid positive case on Wednesday night, forcing him out of the Adelaide Test.
Little Hunter manager David O’Connell told The Advertiser that Cummins, who is now in seven-days isolation as per SA Health protocols, was sitting at a table near the Covid positive case.
He said Cummins had been at the restaurant, a favourite for the Australian cricket team and visiting sports players, from 6.30pm to 8pm.
Cummins was dining with NSW and Adelaide Strikers star and former housemate Harry Conway, who has also been deemed a close contact and forced to isolate.
It’s understood one of Conway’s friends, a grade cricketer from Sydney, came over to the greet Cummins, before receiving a message a short time later saying he had tested positive to Covid-19 — at which time he immediately left the restaurant.
Mr O’Connell said he had reviewed the restaurant’s CCTV footage which he said showed the Covid positive man checking his telephone and then “walk off”.
“We reckon that’s when he got the message (he was positive) but we can’t be 100 per cent sure,” Mr O’Connell said.
“He left before he had finished his meal, so we refunded him his money.”
He said there were about 40 people dining inside the restaurant and another 20 outside.
Mr O’Connell said about four people had approached Cummins on the night and shook his hand.
He said Cummins was masked when he entered the restaurant and had checked in.
Cricket Australia said Cummins had isolated when he became aware he was a close contact. His initial Covid-19 test was negative.
Mr O’Connell said two vaccinated staff, including one employee who served Cummins’ table, had been Covid tested and put into isolation as a precaution.
“SA Health said the staff weren’t a close contact but we thought we’d go a bit further just to make sure,” he said.
“We’re all a bit nervous. We’ve got a lot of tourists coming in and we hope they follow the rules.”
SA Health has only deemed indoor patrons of The Little Hunter as close contacts.
Mr O’Connell said the venue had been thoroughly cleaned and would be open for dinner tonight.
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