South Australia forcing Omicron close contacts into hotel quarantine

One Australian state has made the controversial decision to send all close contacts of the new Omicron variant to hotel quarantine, regardless of their vax status.

One Australian state has made the controversial decision to send all close contacts of the new Omicron variant into quarantine – a move some locals have deemed “overkill”.

South Australian chief health officer Nicola Spurrier announced the decision on Friday, which means anyone linked to a case of the new strain will be sent into isolation for 14 days, irrespective of their vaccination status.

“South Australia is also in a more vulnerable position to immune-escape from the Omicron strain given our current vaccination rates and potential for higher transmission in comparison to other states,” Professor Spurrier said in a statement.

“With the latest advice and our current situation in mind, 14 days of quarantine will be required for all Omicron, or suspected Omicron, close contacts regardless of their vaccination status.

“Casual contact requirements for Omicron cases will continue with the requirement to get tested immediately and quarantine until a negative test result is received, and to get tested again on day six and day 13.”

Chief health officer Nicola Spurrier. Picture: Brenton Edwards

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Premier Steven Marshall said the rules for fully vaccinated close contacts were under constant review, with the latest measure to prevent “a massive Omicron outbreak in South Australia in the lead up to Christmas”.

But, he added, ‘we would like to get that [14 days] back down to seven days [quarantine] as quickly as possible”.

For other variants of Covid-19, vaccinated South Australians are only required to quarantine for seven days.

‘Very confusing, very stressful and very uncertain’

One person impacted by the new measures is hairdresser Shaun Ferguson, who inadvertently became a close contact when he was out browsing for plants at his local nursery on Tuesday afternoon.

Mr Ferguson received a text message from SA Health that night, telling him he’d been to a potential Omicron exposure site – so he immediately got tested. The next day, an SA Health employee told him he could isolate at home – and if he tested negative, he could leave isolation after seven days because he was fully vaccinated.

But just five minutes later, Mr Ferguson told the ABC, the same employee “came back and said, ‘I’m really sorry. I’ve given you some false information, because it’s the Omicron variant they are not necessarily happy for you to be isolating at home with your husband and they are going to consider putting you in a medi-hotel’”.

Shaun Ferguson was taken to the Pullman medi-hotel in Hindmarsh Square after he was deemed a close contact of an Omicron case. Picture: Facebook

Asked to wait for another phone call from SA Health, he then received an email telling him to isolate for seven days, and then another call within the next hour from the SA Health helpline.

“They were a bit confused as well but, basically, said I needed to ignore the email that had come through that it was potentially false information,” Mr Ferguson said.

“So I waited all night, no phone call, no direction.”

At about 11.30pm, he received a text message from SA Health telling him to prepare to be transported to a medi-hotel in the morning.

“Eight o’clock in the morning the bus arrived with the police escort picking me up to take me to hotel quarantine,” Mr Ferguson said.

“The lack of communication, the worry and stress of it all to then being almost ripped from your home and put into a hotel without getting too much information about it or time to prepare.”

He described the situation as “very confusing, very stressful and very uncertain as [to] what to do. It was hard”.

An SA Health spokeswoman told news.com.au that close contacts who don’t live in a suitable premises – for example, if they live in a share house – are the only ones required to go into a medi-hotel.

Close contacts who don’t live in a suitable premises are the only ones required to go into a medi-hotel. Picture: Emma Brasier

Mr Ferguson was unable to isolate at home with his husband because they only have one bathroom. He was taken to the Pullman medi-hotel in Hindmarsh Square.

“You do go through mixed emotions … considering you’re vaccinated and the situation you’re put in at this time of year, it’s going to be pretty difficult for a lot of people being pulled away from their families at a time when you should be out celebrating,” Mr Ferguson said.

“It’s quite frustrating that the government has opened the borders to allow people to celebrate with their families, which I did understand to some extent, but it now means there are quite a few people who are going to be affected.

“I think it’s going to start a group of people who aren’t going to check in, to be honest, because they don’t want to be caught up in something like this.”

Isolation measures deemed ‘overkill’ by locals

Speaking to 9 News, locals deemed the measure “overkill”, especially because it comes so close to the holidays.

“I think it’s overkill and with Christmas only a few weeks away I think it will destroy Christmas for a lot of people,” one South Australian said.

Nurses administering Covid-19 tests. Picture: Matt Loxton

“We’ve been encouraged to get vaccinated and now we’ve been put back in the same class as [the] unvaccinated,” said another.

Another Adelaide resident said authorities could not keep changing the rules.

“We’re always going to get new variants coming out and we can’t keep changing the goalposts every time,” they said.

Australian Hotels Association South Australia’s (AHASA) Ian Horne agreed, saying the changing rules were sending mixed messages to anyone wanting to visit the state.

“That sends a message to interstate visitors, domestic travellers [to] be wary. Don’t even come to South Australia. We’ve become a difficult destination, an unreliable destination,” he said.