SA Health under fire for text message bungle that left hundreds of Brisbane arrivals in confused state of limbo

Hundreds of frustrated travellers from Brisbane are looking at SA Health for answers, as a text message bungle confused the process for isolation protocols.

South Australians in isolatiion after returning from Brisbane have blasted SA Health over a major communications bungle that resulted in their temporary release.

They are demanding the state’s transition committee meet immediately to reassess their isolation requirement, after a series of confusing and contradictory directions by health authorities.

However the committee is not set to meet until Tuesday.

Hundreds of arrivals from Brisbane were forced into self-isolation after touching down in Adelaide after the border with Queensland closed at 5pm on Monday, March 29.

But on Thursday night, at about 6pm, 260 people in isolation received a text in error from SA Health telling them that was no longer required.

Another text was sent about three hours later, advising them the first one was a mistake, and that they must complete their 14 days of isolation from when they landed in Adelaide.

But in the meantime, many had interacted closely with others in their household or headed out in public.

Travellers arrive from Brisbane on Thursday afternoon. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Emma Brasier

SA Health apologised, but caused further confusion by not requiring people who had been in close contact with the ‘freed’ travellers in those three hours to isolate too.

That was despite chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier on Thursday night insisting the returned travellers posed a risk because they might be carrying the “highly contagious” UK strain of COVID-19 circulating in the Queensland outbreak.

Some of the returned South Australians have now registered two negative tests for COVID-19 but were still required go back into isolation.

A Royal Park man in isolation after returning on Monday, who did not wish to be identified, said the consequences of the communication bungle had “voided” the value of continuing to isolate.

The man contacted both SA Health and Premier Steven Marshall’s office urging them to remove his isolation requirements.

The Air Force worker will spend Easter alone and said authorities should gather today and reassess the rules.

“It’s a but disappointing … it’s like ‘Oh it’s a long weekend, we’re not going to reconvene until Tuesday’,” he said.

The two text messages that 260 travellers received. The top message is the acknowledgment of the error. Picture: Supplied

Another traveller Maddy, 22, from Adelaide, who also touched down on Monday night, said she received the text from SA Health but ignored it as she suspected it was an error.

“I thought maybe I had gotten the wrong one,” Maddy said.

“It’s a massive blunder. I think they should have a meeting … it’s Easter, and people deserve to be with their families.”

Maddy, who did not want her surname published, said most people who received the initial text would have jumped at the chance to leave isolation.

“It came from the official SA Health line so I can imagine heaps of people left,” she said.

But an SA Health spokeswoman today said a risk assessment had found people who interacted closely with those who had left isolation did not need to isolate or even get tested, unless they develop symptoms.

“While there’s no action required, all South Australians should be aware of symptoms of COVID-19 and get tested immediately, especially if they have had contact with anyone who recently travelled from Queensland,” the spokeswoman said.

Another 100 travellers who received the same texts on Thursday night were not sent them in error, SA Health.

But it remains unclear whether that was because they had been incorrectly told to isolate in the first place.

In light of the bungle, The Advertiser asked under what circumstances compensation would be considered.

“We will review any claims for compensation on a case by case basis,” SA Health responded.

Asked what the State Government would do about the bungle, Premier Steven Marshall said through a spokeswoman: “We will continue to listen to the health advice and have confidence in that advice.

“Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier and her SA Health team have done an excellent job keeping our state safe.

“We are the safest state, in the safest nation - with the lowest restrictions as a result.”

The transmission committee met on Thursday and decided to retain border restrictions with Brisbane until at least Tuesday, when it will meet again.

No new cases of community transmission were recorded in Queensland today as health authorities there announced they had found the missing link for the first of two clusters – another nurse from the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

SA recorded two new COVID-19 cases today. They were both international travellers, a man and a woman both in their 30s, in medi-hotels since their return.