South Australian Lockdown – Day 2

Pondering

This is the third blog post on the South Australian Covid-19 Parafield Cluster lockdown.
See the first post here, and the second post here.

Day 2 of South Australia’s lockdown brought with it some surprising news. At the 11:30am press conference, we were told that a Covid-19 infected individual had lied to contact tracers. This lie had made the government so worried that it had put the state into our six day ‘hard lockdown’. However, now that the government knew the truth, the lockdown was no longer necessary and we could go out from 00:01am on Sunday morning. That means our six day lockdown has been reduced to just three days.

What!

For international readers, here’s what happened:

  • A returned traveller brought coronavirus back with her from the UK. She got put in the medihotel “Peppers” (as all returning travellers must quarantine in hotel accommodation).
  • At Peppers, a bunch of staff caught it – including a security guard.
  • Peppers security guard also works a second job – at Woodville Pizza Bar.
  • A kitchen hand at the Stamford medihotel also got this strain of coronavirus. He said he had got a pizza from the Woodville Pizza Bar. Lockdown initiated! This meant that the virus had been transmitted by pizza box and not a close contact. Terrifying!
  • However, Stamford kitchen hand lied. He was actually working at the Woodville Pizza Bar, with Peppers security guard, so obviously caught Covid-19 by being all chummy and not from just a pizza box. Lockdown retracted! Authorities realises that this is just average close contact transmission afterall and everyone who got a pizza by UberEats isn’t at high risk of the ‘rona.

So my initial reaction was just shock. I was brought up in a ‘no lies’ household (this rule was so strict that my brother and I never believed in Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny, because our parents telling us that these fantasies existed would be a lie). I guess this is why that kind of moral compass is important. The behaviour that I find most triggering is lying.

However, soon this was replaced with frustration that old-mate Stamford-kitchen-hand and old-mate Peppers-security-guard were in jobs that were so poor paying that they had to find alternative work. There’s big questions here about why they were ‘allowed’ to work other jobs, but if they did not have this as a condition of their employment, and they weren’t making enough money from their Medihotel jobs, then… I would work a second job, too. Hell, I, personally, already work three jobs to make ends meet. Instead of criticising the individual for choices they were allowed to make, I believe the focus should be on the employer who pays so little that seeking further employment is necessary.

The other part of this is that there seems to be something dodgy going on at the Woodville Pizza Bar, for this to go under the radar for a few days and that old-mate Stamford-kitchen-hand wants to lie about it. I am sure this will come out eventually, and I look forward to hearing the news. (In the meantime, I placate myself with the idea that everyone does what they think is best at the time.)

And the news! So today, I timed it – The Project talked about this whole saga for just 4 minutes. Mate, I’m being locked at home with 1.6 million other people for 72 hours ’cause a pizza guy lied and I only get 4 minutes of the nation’s time!

The jokes that have come out of this saga have been phenomenal. My favourites were reading the ‘reviews’ people posted on the Woodville Pizza Bar Facebook page. It had me laughing out loud in those ‘if you don’t laugh, you cry’ kind of moments.

Victoria's reaction to South Australia's lockdown

Besides the news, what did I do today?

I wrote 1298 words on my NaNoWriMo project. This blogging thing is really eating into my writing time, but have you heard our lockdown ends tomorrow at midnight?

I think I technically broke the rules by stepping onto the verge to get my garbage bin. I had flashbacks to the Bin Isolation Outings that we saw at the beginning of the lockdown. I even took a picture.

Bin Isolation - South Australian Lockdown Day 2

I drove to the post office to pick up essential pet supplies (as we don’t have a letter box). I forgot my face mask (good thing they’re not mandatory), and I saw someone in Hamley Bridge wearing a face mask! In this country town! Made me feel guilty and happy at the same time.

Turns out, we did have potatoes, and my husband made roast potatoes for tea. Even though it was 32C (89F) today.

After dinner, I started digging up the area I plan to put a veggie patch in. I removed two very sad frangipanis that never took off, and disturbed a few skinks and a huntsman spider in the process.

So tomorrow I’ll be at home for the day, of course. With any luck I will have enough soil in my compost that I may be able to fill one or two of the garden beds.

Then, Sunday, life will be pretty much normal. Or, you know, this new normal.

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