Explained: How a lie about Woodville Pizza Bar triggered South Australia’s total lockdown

It‘s a stunning revelation — one untrue statement saw the government order SA into lockdown. This is how it happened.

South Australia has been left reeling by revelations a lie to contract tracers pushed the state into one of the country’s harshest lockdowns. Chief reporter Paul Starick explains how a worker at the Woodville Pizza Bar and Stamford Hotel triggered a panic.

What was the lie that triggered the lockdown?

A medi-hotel kitchen hand working at North Tce’s Stamford Plaza Hotel told SA Health contact tracers he had ordered a pizza from the Woodville Pizza Bar. In fact, he had been working at the pizza bar with an infectious security guard, who contracted COVID-19 at Peppers on Waymouth Hotel.

Why did this mean there was a lockdown?

The SA Health COVID-19 team believed there was a significant risk of a Victorian-style outbreak if someone had contracted the virus simply by getting a pizza. Numerous other people who had ordered pizzas from the Woodville takeaway shop could then become contagious, as could their close contacts. Based on the false information, they needed to trace every person who got takeaway or delivery from the pizza bar between November 6 to 16. Contact tracers needed time to do this without people circulating in the community, particularly because the virus was infecting others within about 24 hours.

When did this happen?

The information was gleaned by contact tracers on Tuesday night from the lying kitchen hand. An alert was issued about midnight. A six-day lockdown was announced on Wednesday, coming into force from midnight that night.

How was the lie discovered?

Contact tracers analyse numerous pieces of information, including asking people to look at their phones for photos, diary entries and other details that might outline their movements. They reinvestigated the Stamford kitchen hand and discovered his story did not add up.

South Australian Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier speaks to the media today. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Mariuz

When was the lie discovered?

Chief Public Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said she was alerted on Thursday night. Authorities, including Premier Steven Marshall, Prof Spurrier and Police Commissioner Grant Stevens met at 8am on Friday to hammer out a reaction, which included lifting the lockdown from midnight Saturday.

What were the reasons for the lie?

Mr Stevens, also the state co-ordinator during the COVID-19 emergency, said he could not go into the reasons for the lie. Mr Stevens was asked if it was because the lying pizza bar employee was working cash in hand but he did not directly respond. Mr Stevens said there would be “an appropriate point in time” when police could provide full information about the reasons for the lie but that today was not that time.

How will the lying kitchen hand be punished for putting an entire state into lockdown?

At this stage, he cannot be punished for that because there are no provisions under the Emergency Management Act. Mr Stevens said: “The Emergency Management Act requires people to provide information on request. There is no penalty for failing to truthfully answer those questions.”

Lying to contact tracers is not an offence, because it is an SA Health procedure and not an official police investigation. Therefore, the liar cannot be charged with impeding a police investigation. If he is found to have broken the law in other ways, he can be charged with those offences.

How did the security guard who infected the liar contract COVID-19?

The infectious guard worked at Peppers Waymouth Hotel, the same place as the cleaner who became contagious after contracting the virus from an expat in his 50s who returned from the UK in early November and was quarantining at Peppers.

Will laws be changed?

The Emergency Management Act will be swiftly reviewed. Mr Stevens said he appreciated there would be a significant public reaction to that fact this person has lied to authorities and put the state into lockdown. Initial advice is that it is an obligation for people to provide information on request to an authorised officer, such as a contact tracer, but there is no penalty for a lie.

Did authorities overreact?

This is an open question. Mr Marshall said: “I want to make this really crystal clear. We would do exactly the same thing if we were presented with the same information again today. The reality is that there is no second chance to stop a second wave. We had to act swiftly and decisively on the information we were given at the time.”

Questions will be asked about whether a statewide lockdown was warranted because of one unexplained case, particularly when that case was not a complete mystery because the man worked at a medi-hotel. Even at that early stage, he was linked to other cases because of his declared work.