SA Covid-19 restrictions to ease but business pain continues

A rare overruling of health staff will relieve pressure on businesses but the easing of restrictions must go further, traders say.

South Australian businesses are calling for a bigger boost to customer numbers after a new easing of restrictions after the latest Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown.

In one of its most “robust” meetings, the transition committee on Monday backed bigger venue crowds and a restart of competitive sport after a rare overruling of health advice.

But masks will stay mandated at indoor public venues, on public transport, high-risk or personal sites as well weddings and funerals. Masks will also stay in schools.

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As foreshadowed by the Sunday Mail, new restrictions from 12.01am on Thursday allow half-capacity for indoor venues such as pubs, clubs or restaurants, from the current 25 per cent density.

Standing and drinking in licensed venues is banned while caps at private gatherings stay at 10 people, along with current funeral or wedding rules.

Australian Hotels Association SA chief executive Ian Horne welcomed the one person per 2sq m rules but said publicans were “baffled” by restrictions and queried bans in regional venues.

“The complexity and bureaucracy of the new rules is not clear and appears to have no positive benefit for public safety,” he said.

Business SA chief executive Martin Haese said it was a “step in the right direction”.

“We would expect (it) will be a pathway toward a return to three people per 4sq m as soon as practicable,” he said.

Property Council SA executive director Daniel Gannon said it was “great news for landlords and tenants”.

Managing director of BioFit David Craggs said his gym was suffering under density restrictions. Picture: Kelly Barnes

The managing director of BioFit at Noarlunga, David Craggs, said the new gym rules were “great news”.

Authorities believe the Modbury cluster of 21 cases is controlled but warned of a hard-border closure to Queen­sland because of the new outbreak. As well, SA remained on “high alert” with NSW.

SA Health has released from quarantine at least 4100 people linked to the cluster’s 100 exposure sites.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, who will authorise new legal directions based on committee advice, said rules would stay for at least a week.

He said the committee had “probably one of the more robust meetings that we’ve had”.

“(SA Health) made some recommendations for change but it wasn’t entirely consistent with where we ended up after the discussion,” he said.

Chief public health officer, Professor Nicola Spurrier would not detail her advice.

She also denied SA Health lacked “compassion” as Spanish expat Daniel Cioffi, 40, was refused a permit from a Brisbane medi-hotel to see his dying mother, Emanuela, 66.

Prof Spurrier said Mrs Cioffi was stable, not at “end of life” and improving, as clinicians discussed her discharge.

Premier Steven Marshall, with Police Commissioner Grant Stevens and chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier last week. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dean Martin

Restrictions ease from Wednesday

Health authorities will ease restrictions in SA from midnight on Wednesday night – Thursday morning – with higher capacity at public venues, while tougher border controls are beginning for people entering SA from southeast Queensland.

Monday’s transition committee meeting – “probably one of the more robust ones we’ve had”, according to Police Commissioner Grant Stevens – decided to increase density capacity for public venues but keep mask rules, including for schools.

Premier Steven Marshall urged any South Australians in southeast Queensland and Brisbane to return as soon as possible – after a snap new Brisbane lockdown.

Residents must undergo two weeks home isolation, but if the situation there changes, they could be locked out, he warned.

Mr Marshall said the situation in NSW, where 207 new cases were recorded, was “worrying”.

“You can just see how quickly this (Delta variant) spread … so we are being very prudent about borders and that will remain for some time,” he said.

Mr Marshall said authorities were concerned about the Royal Adelaide Show, which he warned would not be the same as other years.

He said SA Health was continuing to work with organisers on a Covid-management plan.

“It probably won’t be exactly the same as it was every other year – we have to be mindful of this (Delta) variant.”

Mr Marshall said he was unable to intervene in the case of Daniel Cioffi, who is stuck in Brisbane quarantine and seeking to get to Adelaide after his mother was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Mr Cioffi is appealing after being refused an exemption on compassionate grounds.

More than 4000 South Australians are seeking SA Health exemptions to travel back to the state, Mr Marshall said.

“We do try to triage as many of those as quickly as possible,” he said. “I don’t think we should accept in South Australia where politicians override health experts. Many of these situations are absolutely heartbreaking.”

He said he had written to the federal government supporting Mr Cioffi’s entry into Australia and had spoken to SA Health, but said he would not politicise the issue by overriding SA Health.

Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said the Cioffi case was one of “many, many” difficult cases SA Health’s exemption panel considers.

Providing more information than she normally would, she said, for an individual case, Prof Spurrier said Mr Cioffi had been denied an exemption after clinicians had advised Mrs Cioffi’s case was not considered “end of life”.

“Mrs Cioffi is stable, I’m not saying she does not have a devastating diagnosis but she is stable,” Prof Spurrier said, with clinicians “even considering discharge options”.

“It has to be truly end-of-life for us to take the risk for South Australia. It is a very major undertaking.

“It’s likely when he finishes his quarantine in Queensland, it will be around the time Mrs Cioffi leaves hospital.

“At this point in time, even if he was in South Australia, he would not be able to go to the hospital.”

Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier and Police Commissioner Grant Stevens. Picture: Dean Martin

Prof Spurrier said SA Health was working with the AFL on crowd numbers for the Showdown.

The crowd allowed will be in line with current directions on number restrictions, but Mr Stevens said crowds at sporting competitions were discouraged.

He said spectators were limited to “people there to provide care and supervision for children or players”.

Prof Spurrier said there was one new case on Monday, a child from overseas who was in a medi-hotel.

In a transition committee meeting on Monday morning, authorities debated restrictions as they chart the road map out of the state’s latest outbreak.

The eased restrictions are a step forward for SA’s hospitality industry, which had urged the state government to lift venue capacity limits as ongoing Covid-19 restrictions continue to cripple local business owners.

Under new rules following the state’s seven-day lockdown, restaurants, pubs and event companies were restricted to one patron per 4sq m, with dining and drinking available only to seated patrons.

Meanwhile, nurses who do not want the Covid-19 vaccine have come under pressure from SA Health management and are getting jabbed because they fear repercussions, the nurses’ union says.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation’s SA branch has written to SA Health to “raise the concerns of members who have elected not to have a Covid-19 vaccination”.

Under health department policy, the Covid-19 vaccine is not mandatory.

However, Mr Stevens has signed off on directions that will require all workers in red zones – which include some hospital wards, airports and medi-hotels – to have their first vaccination by August 4, or they won’t be eligible to work in a red zone.