No new virus restrictions imposed on SA
South Australians will not face even harsher coronavirus restrictions, it has just been announced, despite two new cases. REWATCH HERE.
- Labor leader, deputy isolating over cluster worries
This story about the coronavirus crisis is free for all readers – please consider supporting our journalism with a subscription.
South Australians will not face even harsher coronavirus restrictions, it has just been announced, despite two new cases on Friday.
Premier Steven Marshall says this morning’s meeting of the Transition Committee decided there would be no changes to the current regimen.
Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said two new cases had been recorded from repatriation flights.
A woman in her 20s and a man and his 50s are in quarantine with mild respiratory symptoms, she said.
“I am not worried about these cases,” Professor Spurrier told the media.
There are now 459 cases with 10 active cases in SA.
The new cases come a day after another new case linked the the Thebarton Senior College cluster triggered a major contact tracing operation.
Close contacts of the cluster have risen to 94, all of whom are required to quarantine in a “medi-hotel”.
The group includes several young people who are staying at the Ibis Hotel on Grenfell Street.
Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said families of those close contacts, who are from diverse cultural backgrounds, have also been ordered into quarantine.
All close contacts are now being asked if they work in, or have links to, aged care, disability services or healthcare and their COVID tests will be prioritised.
A number of “casual contacts” have gone into a fortnight self-isolation, including opposition leader Peter Malinauskas and his deputy Susan Close, who visited Thebarton last week.
“I am trying to put a double ring around this chain of transmission,” she said.
“These are young people... and of course it could be quite frightening to think you have to go into a quarantine facility like that.
“This is the problem with this disease, you have to wait until you have a case.”
She said officials had met with Adelaide cultural leaders to help their wellbeing and mental health while students have been encouraged to bring in devices to stay connected.
None of the cluster group will face punishment.
Prof Spurrier said the cluser’s source, a Blair Athol man, aged in his 20s, “did the right thing” by isolating himself at the Walkers Arms Hotel.
She said not everyone had “specialist knowledge” but he went to a COVID clinic to get tested. She said they “did the best they could do” but language barriers posed a problem.
“This is not the time to be asking questions or trying to blame people,” she said.
“What we now need to do is to be working with the community and make sure everyone is now safe.”
SA’s Police Commissioner, and the state’s COVID coordinator, Grant Stevens said officers were checking whether the man had disclosed he had returned from Victoria.
Prof Spurrier said people had generally been following the rules.
“The problem with this virus is even when you think you’re doing the right thing, it can be quite difficult because it is so transmissible,” she said.
“These people have been very compliant, they’ve been very co-operative and fingers crossed this virus doesn’t get away from us.
“In the scheme of things I would say these people have been compliant. Enforcement is not the card that SA Health play.”
She added: “We’re here to support relationships between people who have become ill with COVID-19. It is not always easy for people to remember everything they’ve done in a period of time.
“That’s why contact tracers go back and re-interview people.
“I would like to say people have absolutely done the right thing. It’s a very nasty and sneaky virus and we have unfortunately seen it spread in this cluster.
South Australia’s response to a testing blitz and social distancing rules.
MORE NEWS
Libs’ insulting Oval get-together invites backlash
What the 1100 people in isolation have to do now
Panic-buying returns but toilet paper stocks hold firm
“What we need to do is work with all the communities involved and support the people who now need to go into quarantine or self-isolation.”
Prof Spurrier announced two new patients on Friday, a woman in her 20s and a man in his 50s, both of whom were expatriates who flew from New Delhi on an Air India flight on Tuesday.
The pair, who travelled alone and have no family in SA, were tested on Wednesday before being confirmed positive on Thursday.
The cases pushed the state’s total to 459, 10 of whom are “active” or contagious.
All sick patients are in quarantine at the Hindmarsh Square-based Pullman Hotel or the Peppers Hotel on Waymouth Street.
As foreshadowed by The Advertiser, SA Health on Friday announced ill patients no longer need a GP referral to visit any drive-through clinics.
There have been 270,926 tests, at government and private clinics, 6516 of which occurred on Thursday.
Originally published as No new virus restrictions imposed on SA
Port Lincoln has a new home of local news
Port Lincoln and communities on the lower Eyre Peninsula now have a dedicated daily news website with the launch of The Port Lincoln News. Find out more here.
Council’s $65,000 civic centre repair bill
Scaffolding has gone up around Port Lincoln’s civic centre as work starts on repairs to its “unsafe” balconies, more than two years since issues were first identified.
Spurrier says ‘stay calm’ as 1100 isolated, 70 quarantined after new case
SA’s chief public health officer has implored people to “stay calm” while authorities leave no “stone unturned” in their investigation of people linked to a fifth coronavirus case and Thebarton Senior College. Some 70 students are in hotel quarantine and a further 1100 people, including teachers, have been ordered to self-isolate.