COVID-positive truck driver ‘didn’t have perfect QR coding’ as he travelled across SA, health chief says

South Australia’s Chief Public Health Officer has flagged concern about a new exposure site listed in the state’s far west, after a “quite infectious” COVID-positive truck driver visited the state.

Meanwhile, a low level exposure site has been identified in Mount Gambier and linked to a local woman who had recently been in Victoria.

The new exposure site in Ceduna in the state’s far west was added to SA Health’s list on Monday night, after authorities discovered the truck driver, who travelled from Victoria and through Port Augusta, had visited Ceduna.

On Sunday, October 3, he visited the Port Augusta OTR (including Hungry Jack’s) from 3:45am to 4:30am before travelling west and stopping at X Convenience Ceduna from 9:45am to 10:30am.

He then travelled back and stopped at the Port Augusta OTR (including Hungry Jack’s) again between 4:20pm and 5:20pm on Sunday.

He was also at OTR Port Augusta briefly in the early hours of Monday, October 4, between 12:20am and 1:20am.

All four stops are classified as tier 2 exposure sites by SA Health on Monday, meaning those who were there should get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days.

Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said authorities found out about the man’s stop at Ceduna after contact tracers investigated his movements.

“We only had the On the Run at Port Augusta, but we found additional information … he’d been to Ceduna as well,” Professor Spurrier told ABC Radio Adelaide.

“Anybody who has been through the Port Augusta/Ceduna area has to have a close look at that and make sure that they weren’t in those locations at that time.”

She said it sounded as though the truck driver “didn’t have perfect QR coding”.

“So again, the whole pandemic — the way we can deal with it is if we have the majority of people QR coding in,” she said.

“But all of us will have one time in our life where you’ve gone somewhere and haven’t QR coded in.”

She said anyone returning to Adelaide from Ceduna after the long weekend should get tested if they developed any symptoms.

No new cases in Mount Gambier overnight

It comes after new COVID-19 restrictions were imposed in the Mount Gambier, Wattle Range and Grant council areas in the state’s south-east, as authorities investigate the movements of a Mount Gambier resident who has tested positive for the virus.

Professor Spurrier said there were no new cases recorded in Mount Gambier overnight.

All 12 of the COVID-positive woman’s close contacts have also tested negative.

More than 500 COVID-19 tests were carried out in the regional city on Monday, which Professor Spurrier said was “a really fantastic level of testing” for a smaller community.

“Anybody in that area, if you’ve got any symptoms whatsoever, please go and get tested.”

The first exposure site in Mount Gambier was added this afternoon — the SipnSave bottle shop at the South Eastern Hotel.

SA Health said the woman visited the outlet last Friday.

Frustration over border bubble

Authorities are also continuing to investigate the Mount Gambier woman’s visit to Victoria, as they try to piece together where she may have contracted the virus.

Professor Spurrier said it was important to investigate the woman’s movements thoroughly so authorities could figure out whether Victorian communities in the border bubble had COVID-19.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said SAPOL was not talking directly to the woman to allow contact tracers to interview her.

He said he had “not been specifically advised” that she had lied to SA Health about her whereabouts in Victoria.

“Clearly there are some challenges in obtaining relevant up-to-date information but that’s the process they’re working through,” Commissioner Stevens said.

State Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell said community members were frustrated by the reduced border bubble between South Australia and Victoria.

“That border has been brought back to 30 kilometres, and as of yesterday, I’ve got employers ringing me saying, ‘My worker lives 35km or 40km across the border, are they able to rock up for work this morning?'” he said.

“And of course, the answer to that is ‘no’, now the border has been brought from 70km back to 30km.

“I think it’s really important we get that information clear and out to the community as quickly as possible because we know that we’re in a high-risk area, being right on the border, but people have been doing the right thing — 18 months no transmission into Mount Gambier — so this is a really important point to get right.”

Federal Member for Barker Tony Pasin agreed, saying the border restrictions had a “crushing impact for those 30km away”.

“For 18 months people living in cross-border communities have been so disciplined — have done the right thing to maintain the COVID-free status — that has facilitated the travel across borders.”

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