SA’s new coronavirus outbreak s causing a lot of irate comment. People are wondering why overseas travellers are firstly being allowed in to SA – and then secondly quarantined in inner city hotels. Some people think a remote country site should be selected – others say Christmas Island. Many believe the quarantine for two weeks should be done before travellers are allowed to board flights to Australia. Here is one comment on The Advertiser site today.
“Damn you Stephen Marshall. SA had this thing beaten but you just had to keep letting people in from COVID infested countries. We saw what happened in Victoria and you clearly learned nothing from it. Now all we can do is hold our collective breaths and hope it doesn’t turn to be as bad.” SA’s Chief public health office Nicola Spurrier told ABC radio she was “absolutely certain” that the transmission had originated in an Adelaide medi-hotel and revealed she had growing concerns over the past few weeks about the growing number of people with COVID-19 entering the medi-hotel system in SA from overseas. Former WHO epidemiologist Professor Adrian Esterman said it appeared there had been a ‘breakdown in systems’ with the state’s hotel quarantine program. ‘Many hotels should’ve been secure.
But my understanding is that people weren’t tested on a regular basis,’ Mr Esterman said. SA Health have now ordered that all people working at the hotels be tested weekly -I’m surprised this wasn’t happening before now.’ He said South Australia risked a Victorian-style outbreak if infections weren’t kept under control in the coming days.
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