Adelaide’s “very nasty” coronavirus cluster has likely grown to 21 as 4,000 people in South Australia were forced into isolation due to the hotel quarantine breach that has been genetically traced to a traveller who returned to the state in early November.
There were five new locally acquired Covid-19 cases announced by the premier, Steven Marshall, on Tuesday afternoon. Four were officially linked to the Parafield cluster, taking it from 16 to 20, while the fifth is expected to be linked soon.
Five schools have also been closed – Roma Mitchell secondary college, Mawson Lakes primary and preschool, Thomas More college, the Holy Family Catholic school and Mount Carmel college – as contact tracers race to contain the virus that spread from a quarantine hotel.
Returned travellers quarantining in the Peppers medi-hotel were told on Monday night that they may have to restart their quarantine in a new hotel, regardless of how many days they have already served, meaning some returned travellers may ultimately be forced to quarantine for up to 28 days.
On Tuesday afternoon, Marshall said that in addition to the 21 cases in the cluster there were another 14 people who are close contacts of confirmed cases suspected of having the virus. They are yet to test positive.
“I need to reiterate to the people of South Australia we are not out of the woods,” Marshall said. “We are just at the beginning stages of dealing with this particular very nasty cluster in Parafield. We are going to get through this. But we’re going to get through it with the cooperation of every single South Australian.”
South Australia’s chief health officer, Prof Nicola Spurrier, urged only those with symptoms or those who have visited areas of concern to get tested, as long wait times were reported at centres across Adelaide that saw 5,000 people on Monday and 6,000 on Tuesday.
“What I don’t want is our public health system, our SA pathology and our private labs to get clogged with people who are the worried well,” Spurrier said.
“Our priority is anybody that has been asked by public health to get a test done, regardless of whether they are symptomatic or asymptomatic. The next group is anybody that has been to any of the locations listed and developed symptoms.”
Spurrier said that of the confirmed cases, “all of these people have either no symptoms or they are very mildly symptomatic, and they have been picked up early in the course of the disease”.
She said genomic testing had linked the cluster back to a returned traveller who arrived at a media-hotel on 2 November, and tested positive on 3 November. Authorities believe the disease was contracted by a hotel cleaner who picked up Covid-19 through “surface transmission”.
A security guard is also among three staff at the Peppers hotel to have contracted coronavirus. Three of Tuesday’s new cases are family members of the guard.
The decision to move returned travellers in the Peppers hotel is being taken out of concern Covid-19 could spread inside the hotel in Adelaide’s city centre.
Travellers quarantining in an Adelaide hotel linked to a Covid-19 cluster are being told they may have to re-quarantine in a new hotel. Those due to finish today may be forced to quarantine for 28 days. These documents were given to guests @GuardianAus https://t.co/guSOkfaEWn pic.twitter.com/GrBY9211J6
— Elias Visontay (@EliasVisontay) November 16, 2020
At about 10pm on Monday night, guests at the medi-hotel – the name used for quarantine hotels in South Australia – received pieces of paper under their room door informing them they would be moved to a new hotel on Tuesday.
The SA government document said: “We understand that there are guests whose quarantine period is due to end tomorrow, Tuesday 17 November, however to ensure your safety and to minimise the public health risk, this time will be extended, which may be up to 14 days.”
Guests will not have to pay for the additional quarantine period, and are being warned they will have to reschedule any connecting flights they had booked if they were transiting through Adelaide.
Another piece of paper given to guests notes the mental health concerns of the extended quarantine and provides a list of support services.
Dennis K, who is seven days into quarantining in the Peppers hotel with his partner after arriving from Amsterdam, has a connecting flight booked to Melbourne, where they live. He booked flights into Adelaide as Melbourne is not currently accepting international arrivals.
“It’s stressful, because they literally shove a letter under the door, but there was no knock or assistance to explain it to us ... People are due to leave this morning. Imagine being told you had to do it all again, imagine if you missed your flight,” he said.
Dennis said he and his partner were unable to sleep as a result of the confusion last night, and that he was concerned moving fellow guests into a bus and to a new hotel would increase the chance of spreading Covid-19.
“Our room door has been closed since we moved in, nothing has been breached here. Moving us through and putting us on a bus, surely that brings more risk of spreading the virus?”
An SA Health spokeswoman told Guardian Australia that “following a risk assessment of the Peppers Hotel, the Communicable Disease Control Branch has determined the quarantine period of all guests in the hotel needs to be extended by up to 14 days”.
The spokeswoman said guests were called before being provided with the letters about the move, and that guests might be moved into several different hotels on Tuesday. She did not say how many guests had been affected.
Authorities were deep cleaning the Peppers hotel, and it would continue to be used for quarantine, she said.
“We understand the frustration of the guests and we thank them for their assistance as we take every required step to prioritise the health and safety of all South Australians,” the spokeswoman said.
As a result of growing Covid-19 community transmission in Adelaide, Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory have moved to tighten border restrictions for arrivals from South Australia.
Since the emergence of the Parafield cluster the SA government has suspended international flights into Adelaide, for at least the rest of this week.
