You would think they wouldn’t bother with implementing the permit system now. Just keep the hard border till Monday and then open up. There is no reason to be closed when SA is opening up and only the odd case is popping up to be traced to this cluster.
I think what this has shown is that Australia needs to have some level of measures that are consistent across all states as we open borders. I don’t see why masks can’t just be mandated nationally indoors (Supermarkets, retail, certain workplaces, public transport, users/taxis, flights and in crowds). We are in a pandemic s it’s not a big ask. Some small measures can make a difference and reduce the risk.
In crowded, confined spaces (ie public transport) I agree. But the evidence and previous outbreaks strongly suggests that asymptomatic transmission requires close contact for an extended period.
The biggest weak point appears to be hospitality workers at this point.
Look at NSW, they have always had just a recommendation to wear a mask in areas where you can’t socially distance e.g. public transport which makes sense, I don’t think there should be a requirement to wear a mask indoors where you can socially distance from someone. Individual discretion should be used. NSW have been very proactive when any local transmission flares up but have been doing very well at the moment with it just being hotel quarantine cases.
I just don’t see the big deal with wearing them in places like supermarkets etc. even as someone suggested above hospitality workers should be wearing them. Once upon a time we never wore seatbelts in cars. We got used to it.
Exactly and it’s not just COVID either. It reduces your exposure to other bugs/colds/flus and could mean less of those going around. I cringe thinking back to the days where I used to daily squeeze onto a packed train to get to work and be in such close proximity to people. I’ll always be wearing a mask going forward in those environments.
Apparently there was supposed to be a permit system introduced tonight but I haven’t seen an announcement. So perhaps they are now discussing the advise
Well the police commissioner did exactly that in the press conference. It seems like they are just trying to shift a lot of attention and blame this guys way. I don’t really like what they are doing.
Now they can spend time identifying who made the decision to not look and consider the findings of the Victorian enquiry about hiring people who are casuals/part-time to work in hotel quarantine.
The person is not to blame - as is abundantly clear from the amount of identification they’ve done - their work at the pizza shop would be in breach of their work restrictions on the visa they hold, so of course they would have been hesitant.
The shop owners who didn’t give a full telling of their staff, and the questioning procedures of the contact tracers who didn’t effectively assure them that there’d be no details passed on that could impact Visa status.
The SA gov can bleat ‘gold standard’ all they like - but fundamentally the problem is they did not ensure that all staff at medi-hotels are waged single site workers. That’s on the government not the workers who took a job to make ends meet in a bad economy.
Lot of blame to the press for running with this, and not pushing the Gov harder on their failings, especially given the scrutiny of Victoria.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said a 36-year-old Spanish man working in the pizza bar on a temporary graduate visa is the key person of interest.
I wonder if the Spanish man made up the lie so he would not be exposed as working illegally, and eventually deported?
I hear Victoria will persist with a permit system from tonight for South Australians.
I looked into the border permit. I think this is a good system regardless of any outbreaks. It keeps track of where people have been in states but still allows freedom of travel. I like the idea from Victoria. I’m not sure if I would be required to self quarantine or not though.