Robe Covid exposures force business closures as staff isolate

Robe traders say they cannot afford to have their staff quarantined every time a Covid-positive customer walks in the door as SA Health lists four local exposure sites.

Robe businesses, now battling with four Covid-19 exposure sites, say isolation requirements are too harsh and damaging to regional towns.

SA Health this week released the new sites linked with a positive case in the Limestone Coast tourist hotspot, including two that were classed as “close contact” locations.

Anyone at the close contact sites, who is vaccinated, must quarantine for seven days after the exposure.

They also need to get tested several times for Covid-19, wear a surgical mask around others, not attend high-risk settings and avoid contact with vulnerable people.

Unvaccinated people must quarantine for two weeks.

Close contact sites include the Caledonian Inn’s indoor area (Thursday, November 25, from 7.15pm – 8.45pm) and Robe Seafood & Takeaway (Wednesday, November 24 from 6.45pm – 7.30pm).

The Caledonian Inn at Robe has been added to the list of Covid exposure sites. Picture: Mark Brake

Casual contact sites, which spur a lower level of requirements, include Caledonian Inn’s outside patrons (Thursday, November 25 from 7.15pm – 8.45pm), Union Cafe (Friday, November 26, from 10.30am – 11am and Wednesday, November 24 from 10.45am – 11.15am).

Caltex Robe is a “low-risk casual contact” site (Friday, November 26 from 11.30am – noon).

Robe Tourism Association president Anna Heffernan said small businesses did not have a back-up team they could use to fill shifts if other workers needed to isolate – which would force some to temporarily close.

“Especially in a town like Robe we don’t have a team A and team B,” she said.

“The government were the ones to open the borders and if they’re forcing businesses to shut at our busiest time of the year, there’s going to be outrage.”

Union Cafe owner Jack Edwards, who closed his business on Wednesday, took to Facebook to vent his concerns, saying “this isn’t living with Covid, this is bulls**t”.

Mr Edwards told The Advertiser himself and eight staff were in isolation, and he was likely to keep his business closed on Thursday while he awaited test results to see whether enough team members could return.

g g g g g g g

“I feel like if these were going to be the rules, it wasn’t worth opening the borders for that,” he said.

“I am happy that we opened the borders but think this seven-day isolation every time someone comes in to your business is not viable. If this keeps happening every week over summer, we’re going to lose all our trade, which is what we need to survive.”

Robe Mayor Alison Nunan said her town couldn’t “dodge a bullet forever” with state borders open.

“We were expecting this to occur, it’s occurred pretty quickly and we know it’s probably going to occur many times,” Mrs Nunan said.

An SA Health spokeswoman said SA Health would contact anyone identified as a contact of someone with Covid-19 and give them advice on quarantine and testing requirements.

“With our borders now open we know we will start to see cases in the community, so this approach is extremely important to keep South Australians community safe, particularly those in smaller regional areas,” she said.

[e-mail]