COVID-19

New national changes for positive cases, close contacts and quarantine come into effect

By Glam Adelaide

Posted on December 30, 2021

Following 1374 new cases today, Marshall announced a covid-postitive child under 2 has died, and changes for positives cases and close contacts come into effect

In today’s South Australian COVID-19 press conference, Premier Steven Marshall opened by saying he had some very sad news. A covid-positive child under the age of 2 has passed away. The cause of death is being determined.

In terms of the numbers for yesterday, there was a significant number of tests, possibly a record, with 23,420 PCR tests processed. There have been 1374 positive cases. Marshall said that pleasingly we have maintained 37 people in hospital, with only 4 people in ICU and one on a ventilator.

Following today’s Vaccination Round Table, with people from the AMA, pharmacies, SA Health etc, Marshall explained that they are looking to flex up vaccinations. His strong advice to everyone is to jump online and take the opportunity to get vaccinated and have their boosters when eligible.

Paediatric doses are now arriving in Australia, so from the 10th of January South Australia be ready for the first doses to be administered. There will be a 8 week break between doses for children.

Steven Marshall said that he was had a meeting with the COVID-ready committee today, and the National Cabinet.

The outcomes of the National Cabinet Meeting are as follows:

There is now a standard definition of what a close contact is. Several months ago Marshall said the country was keen to get everyone who was a close contact into quarantine, as they were working towards an elimination strategy. Now Australia has a different strategy, which is to suppress instead. And so what the National Cabinet agreed upon, is that Australia will significantly limit the definition of close contacts to household members and intimate contacts of positive cases. In more vulnerable communities, or in the case of a significant transmission event – the State might flex up the definition of close contacts. For example, if there are a large number of cases in a workplace or somewhere like an aged care facility, those deemed close contacts may be expanded. This new definition of a close contact will be in place from midnight tonight.
Marshall said they also discussed the time that close contacts and positive contacts should be in isolation. In the next 24 hours, Australia be moving to 10 days for those who are covid-positive, and 7 days if they’re a close contact. If you’re unvaccinated it will remain at 14 days. [UPDATE: On the SA Health website, as at 31/12/21, it says ALL contacts, vaccinated and unvaccinated – only need to quarantine for 7 days – See more below). If you tested positive, haven’t got any symptoms, and you’ve done the 10 days, you can go back into the public.
Rapid Antigen Testing – no state will be giving these tests away free of charge – except in particularly vulnerable communities. All states agreed that they are moving towards more people towards using these tests and out of PCR testing lines. About 2/3 of all people lining up at asymptomatic, and shouldn’t be in the line unless they’re a close contact of someone with covid. New directions will be coming into place in regards to this. There will be significant tightening of guidelines around this. We need to reserve capacity for people with symptoms or who are close contacts. To have 66% of people tested being asymptomatic is unacceptable.

Marshall addressed concerns around Rapid Antigen Test availability, saying they are now flooding into the country and being distributed around the country. He reassured reporters that the shortages are now being addressed.

Marshall said SA has the second highest rates of PCR tests in the country and second lowest time it takes to get results back.

He stressed that if people have symptoms there’s no choice but to isolate.

He said, we’re in the midst of an outbreak here in Australia and around the world. We really need to reserve PCR testing for people that have the symptoms He went on to say, we want people to be safe this NYE but we don’t want a super spreader situation. Consider where you’re going to be, and make sure you’re appropriately protected. He said that he’s hopeful that people can enjoy themselves.

Marshall also addressed the current hospitalisations in regards to COVID-19, saying, to date we have 4 ppl in ICU and we’ve flexed up our ICU in the state. It’s why we suspended non urgent surgery in SA in private and public hospitals to free up the system. While the symptoms of Omicron are less severe, there will still be 1.4% of Omricon cases hospitalised, with 15-20% of those going to ICU.

Marshall closed saying “We’re putting the breaks on in SA as quickly as possible to avoid a disaster.”

SA Health Website Update at 31/12/21

Unvaccinated and vaccinated close contacts must:

immediately quarantine for 7 days since they had contact with a COVID-19 positive person or were at the exposure location
get an initial PCR test
get a PCR test again on day 6 if initial test negative (a negative day 6 PCR test is required to be released from quarantine)
get a PCR test again immediately if symptoms develop (be mindful of symptoms for up to 14 days)
not attend high risk settings or COVID Management Plan events for 14 days after exposure
wear a surgical mask when around others
avoid contact with vulnerable people, avoid non-essential activities where possible and avoid shared spaces and maintain physical distancing on days 8 to 14 after exposure.

CURRENT EXPOSURE LOCATIONS

Please note: During the December 26th press conference with Professor Nicola Spurrier, she said that SA Health have stopped listing all impacted sites, and are now focused on super spreader, high risk or vulnerable locations.

If you were at any of the below locations, but not at the specified date and time, monitor yourself for symptoms and get tested as soon as symptoms develop.

You may not always receive a call, SMS or email from SA Health. You must follow the relevant health advice even if you have not been contacted.

If you have any COVID-19 symptoms, no matter how mild, please seek testing as soon as possible.

Find your nearest testing site at www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/COVIDtesting.

More information is available at www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/COVIDcontacttracing.

For more information visit https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/ or call the SA COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787.