Former SA premier Jay Weatherill tests positive to Covid prompting parliament to be adjourned

Jay Weatherill has caught Covid and is “too sick to talk’. State parliament has shut down and the SA Governor, also a close contact, is in isolation.

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Former South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has tested positive for Covid-19, sending parliament into a shutdown while contact tracing is under way.

SA Governor Frances Adamson also met with Weatherill on Sunday afternoon, according to the Vice-Regal diary.

A media statement on Thursday said she has now been identified as a close contact and has returned a negative result. She is isolating in Government House “for as long as advised by SA Health”.

The Lieutenant-Governor, Professor Brenda Wilson, will be appointed as state administrator in her absence.
LATEST THURSDAY UPDATES: 18 new Covid cases in SA

Former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill. Picture: David Mariuz

Mr Weatherill was at an event on Saturday from which the state recorded three new Covid cases, two in SA residents who attended with interstate travellers.

SA Health says it is believed the two men in their 50s caught the virus from an interstate traveller.

The Advertiser understands they were at the same school reunion event at the Norwood Theatre Bugs building in Adelaide’s east on Saturday and that Mr Weatherill, who had flown in from Perth where he now lives, was present. He was notified of his test result just before 8pm on Wednesday and is understood to be in quarantine in Tom’s Court medi-hotel in the city.

Mr Weatherill had been in isolation after SA Health declared the theatre building a close contact exposure location for those who were there between 2pm on Saturday and 2am on Sunday.

The new Norwood cluster – the state’s seventh outbreak – means SA’s parliament will be adjourned on Thursday morning and MPs and staff have been advised to avoid in person meetings while contact tracing is under way.

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“Further advice in relation to the afternoon session will be provided tomorrow (Friday) morning when the situation becomes clearer,” a letter sent to MPs said.

“This incident is a timely reminder that all Members and staff of parliament should be fully vaccinated to keep themselves, their loved ones and their community safe.”

It comes as the Education Department confirmed Ocean View P-12 College at Taperoo would be closed on Thursday after “a member of the school community” tested positive.

“We encourage staff and students to monitor for any Covid-19 symptoms, test if symptomatic and isolate until you receive a negative result,” the department said in a tweet.

South Australia’s governor Frances Adamson is in isolation. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

However, a spokesman from the Education Department said the closure of the school was due to staffing levels rather than potential virus exposure at the school. “We had so many staff caught up with it we couldn’t adequately staff the school,” the spokesman said.

Mr Weatherill had lunch with Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas and former Attorney-General John Rau at Parlamento Italian restaurant on Monday.

Mr Weatherill also conducted media and radio interviews and had meetings with business and community leaders.

“Upon hearing this news, out of an abundance of caution, I cancelled my planned appearance at a High School graduation tonight,” Mr Malinauskas said in a tweet on Wednesday night. “Subsequently, upon hearing the news this evening that Jay Weatherill had tested positive, I immediately left parliament at 8.20pm and went to Victoria Park to get tested.”

“I will isolate while I await the test results and further advice from SA Health.”

Via media reports, I learned Jay Weatherill attended a high school reunion on Saturday where a COVID-positive case also attended.

Upon hearing this news, out of an abundance of caution, I cancelled my planned appearance at a high school graduation tonight.

(1/2)

— Peter Malinauskas (@PMalinauskasMP) December 1, 2021

In the early hours of Thursday morning, Mr Malinauskas said he tested negative.

“I’m happy to report that SA pathology have messaged me advising my Covid test result is negative,” he said.

“While I’m relieved by this news, my thoughts are with those South Australians who have now got Covid. Now that the virus is in SA, it is more important than ever people get vaccinated.”

Deputy Leader Susan Close also has returned a negative result.

I’m happy to report that SA pathology have messaged me advising my Covid test result is NEGATIVE. While I’m relieved by this news, my thoughts are with those Sth Australians who have now got Covid. Now that the virus is in SA, it is more important than ever people get vaccinated.

— Peter Malinauskas (@PMalinauskasMP) December 1, 2021

The event Mr Weatherill attended was one of six new Covid exposure sites, including Theatre Bugs, Cardone’s Seafood and Grill at Glenelg, Hey Darling Espresso on Pirie St, Business SA in Unley and Forth. Wine Bar at Glenelg.

To see the full list of exposure sites, go to SA Health, here.

Theatre Bugs operator Michael Eustice said the function was not a Theatre Bugs event but a high school reunion held on the Theatre Bugs premises. “I can confirm that all SA Health (Covid safe) requirements were fully met without exception,” he said.

Mr Weatherill earlier declined to comment when contacted by The Advertiser

Business SA is another exposure caught up in the scare after one of the infectious men attended a training event on Tuesday night with 32 other fully vaccinated people.

Its chief executive Martin Haese told The Advertiser that as a precaution he had ordered all of his 60 staff to get tested. Only a small number of staff attended the event at its Greenhill Road, Unley headquarters.

“We are taking an abundance of caution approach,” he said. “All of the guests at the event were double vaccinated after I brought in that measure on November 23.”

Contact tracers are investigating if the cases are “community transmission”, in which people become infectious from an unknown source.

Under new SA Health rules, anyone vaccinated who has visited a close contact exposure site must quarantine for a week while unvaccinated contacts must isolate for 14 days.

Any third party who has been in contact with anyone quarantined due to exposure is not required to isolate until that person also tests positive.

It means both Labor figures need to isolate as does anyone else who came into contact with Mr Weatherill or visited sites at the same times he did.

Contact tracers are urgently investigating Mr Weatherill’s movements.

Anyone fully vaccinated who attended the reunion will need to isolate for seven days.

Unvaccinated people must quarantine for a fortnight.

Authorities say the “strong working theory” is that the cases were locally acquired from interstate travellers.

New cases and exposure sites prompted a surge in testing, with SA Health warning on Wednesday night that Victoria Park was experiencing “longer than usual waiting times” and suggesting the Ridgehaven and Bedford Park sites as alternatives.

The third case is a child who acquired her infection overseas and has been in quarantine since arrival.

The Advertiser’s editor, Gemma Jones, editor-at-large Paul Starick and Group Director, Editorial Transformation & Strategy Mel Mansell met with Mr Weatherill on Tuesday. They are now considered close contacts and are isolating.

Exposure sites in Robe

SA Health has named a number of places in the Limestone Coast town of Robe as Covid exposure sites, amid fresh concerns that scrapping key Covid-19 emergency laws could spark legal challenges.

SA Health reported no Covid cases on Tuesday but updated the exposure sites to include a number of cafes and shops in Robe.

Close contacts are required to test and quarantine, and casual contacts will need to test and quarantine until they receive a negative result.

The state’s transition committee on Tuesday ruled out any easing of restrictions while authorities investigate, and seek urgent information, on the new variant of concern, Omicron.

SA Health has named a number of sites in Robe as Covid exposure sites. Picture: Nick Clayton.

Meanwhile, South Australians can receive their booster Covid-19 jabs from official state government clinics from today.

Anyone aged over 18 who had their second shot six months ago can walk in or book their third dose at any of the government’s clinics.

The state’s first drive-through vaccination facility opened on Tuesday.

The clinic, at SA Produce Markets in Pooraka, is based on similar models in NSW and Victoria.

Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said the third dose was not mandatory but recommended to ensure “protection against this harmful virus is stronger and lasts”.

At the drive-through clinic in Pooraka yesterday was delivery driver Mitch Tezacker, 28, of Mawson Lakes, whose work has a mandatory vaccination policy.

“It was easy and very convenient,” Mr Tezacker said.

“It took five minutes and then a 15-minute wait at the end.”

Bookings are recommended but not essential at the drive-through facility.

Originally published as Former SA premier Jay Weatherill tests positive to Covid prompting parliament to be adjourned