COVID-19: Perth to lock down for 5 days after 1 case of community transmission

The Premier of Western Australia, Mark McGowan has just announced that Perth has one case of community transmission by a security guard, working at the Sheraton Four Points quarantine hotel on a floor housing travellers who tested positive for the ‘British’ and South African’ strains of the COVID-19 virus.

The Perth metropolitan area plus the Peel and South-West regions will go into 5 days of lockdown from 6 pm West Australian time this evening,

“So beginning at 6pm tonight the whole Perth metropolitan area, the Peel region and the South West region will go into full lockdown.”

Mark McGowan, The Premier of Western Australia

The security guard is also a ride-share driver and is thought to have contracted the virus on 26 or 27 January. He last tested negative on 23 January.

Exposure sites for this patient are primarily located in the Marylands area. The sites are posted here on the WA Health website. If you have visited any of the sites at the dates and times provided, then go to the nearest testing site, get tested, and then self-isolate until you receive a negative result. The same is true if you feel any symptoms whether or not you have visited the exposure sites.

For Western Australians

From 6pm your time tonight, food outlets, restaurants, cafes, gyms, bars, clubs, personal services, indoor sporting venues, playground, skate parks, outdoor recreational venues, casinos, cinemas, places of worship, entertainment venues etc are to be shut for the next 5 days, and the following further rules apply:

• Supermarkets and chemists and other essential services are to remain open.
• Restaurants and cafes are allowed to operate takeout only.
• Schools will remain closed.
• Funerals can only have 10 attendants.
• Weddings are cancelled.
• No visitors to homes – emergencies excepted.
• No visits to aged card, except in exceptional circumstances

West Australians are advised not to embark on any unnecessary travel, and to work from home if possible.

“This week it is absolutely crucial we stay home, maintain physical distancing and personal hygiene and get tested if we have symptoms.

Mark McGowan, The Premier of Western Australia

Masks are mandated for all activites outside the home. That includes in shops, on public transport, basically everwhere except at home.

For interstate travellers

The Premier is discouraging interstate travellers for the 5 days.

There is no updated information from what I can see.

Currently, what you can and can’t do in WA depends on what state you are coming from. Most states are pretty OK, but if you come from NSW, then you need to test and isolate for 14 days.

Now, it doesn’t matter where you are from, if you arrive in WA in the next 5 days, then you need to effectively self-isolate, only venturing out for food and other essential supplies. Everything else will be closed anyway. Oh, and don’t be surprised if Virgin and Qantas/Jetstar start cancelling flights for those 5 days.

Testing

Testing facilities are being ramped up, and all residents of the three areas names should go for testing if they exhibit any symptoms or if they have visited any to the venues listed on the WA Health website on the days and times named.

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

This morning, news outlets were crowing that this was the 14 th day without community transmission across Australia, and we re-opened the ‘green’ one-way travel corridor with New Zealand. This afternoon, Australia’s most remote capital city is going into 5 days of lockdown.

This is quick, extensive and decisive action by the WA premier. WA has been crowing about its virus free status ever since March 2020, enforcing some of the most draconian border restrictions against other Australian states.

It looks like it is going to suffer the same issues with the control of the virus in hotel quarantine that other states have faced over the pandemic – one slip in the procedure and the virus will out. Pride comes before a fall.

I would be lying if I didn’t admit to a certain amount of schadenfreude in respect to this outbreak. Does that make me a bad person?