Disturbing warning about testing as outbreak sparks brutal lockdown
South Australian residents are being urged not to get tested for coronavirus if they aren’t displaying symptoms as the state is plunged into the nation’s harshest lockdown.
The state is preparing to enter a six-day lockdown from midnight in its fight to get ahead of the coronavirus after an Adelaide cluster rose to 22 cases.
Following the news that schools and almost all industries would be closed from midnight on Wednesday, while weddings, funerals and outside exercise are all set to be banned, SA Health outlined who should be attending testing clinics.
The department said people should seek testing if they had been contacted directly by SA health and asked to self-quarantine and get a test, regardless of symptoms or not, as well as people who have been to a location of concern during the dates/times listed and have symptoms.
Those who have been advised by SA Health to self-quarantine and have symptoms are also required to seek a test.
Warning influx of tests could hamper virus fight
When Victoria was reporting around 200 coronavirus cases a day as it battled its second wave, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said tens of thousands of tests could hamper efforts to fight the virus.
As NSW reported more than 32,000 tests in a 24-hour period in August, Professor Sutton said such a high figure could be detrimental.
People who are not required to get a COVID-19 test and people who do not have symptoms are asked to not attend testing sites.
Visit https://t.co/ILL5YMXz8O to find out if you're impacted by the Parafield Cluster AND required to get tested. pic.twitter.com/FPy4I2bLHT— SA Health (@SAHealth) November 18, 2020
“I don’t know that you get extra value in 30,000 or 40,000 tests, necessarily,” he said.
“You push out the turnaround time and when you’ve got a long turnaround time for your results, you’ve got people potentially who are infectious moving about in the community.”
Prof Sutton said at the time it was not a “good investment” of testing resources to test asymptomatic people in the community as the likelihood of finding cases randomly was minimal.
Visitors to these locations on high alert
SA Health has listed a number of locations on its website, urging anybody who visited them to be on high alert.
Anybody who visited Roma Mitchell Secondary College in Gepps Cross between November 12 and 13 are instructed to quarantine and seek testing.
Those who live with anybody who visited that location is urged to do the same.
The same alerts are in place for people who visited Thomas More College, Salisbury Downs, on November 12 and 13, and Woodville Pizza Bar (including people who got takeaway or delivery) between November 6 and 16.
People should quarantine for 14 days and get a Covid test if they visited the Lyell McEwin Hospital Emergency Department between 5.30pm on November 13 and 8am on November 14.
Anyone who attended the Mawson Lakes School and Preschool on November 11 to 13 or The Aquadome between 11am and 1.30pm on November 14 is also urged to quarantine and get tested.
Those who visited the Goodstart Early Learning Child Care Centre or the Holy Family Catholic School, both in Parafield Gardens, on November 13, should self-isolate for 14 days and get tested if they develop symptoms.
Others are required to monitor for symptoms if they visited a number of other locations around Adelaide.
Visit SA Health for the full list.
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