Australian state locked down because of a non-existent takeout pizza – With insights from The Wall Street Journal

A rather appropriate story ahead of our Great Covid-19 Debate at noon today. Although both were long-time British colonies, Australia is the inverse of South Africa. Most notably how citizens of the two countries heed the law. What in SA is regarded often as 'suggestions' (eg rules of the road) is a cast iron order for Aussies. Such dutiful compliance, however, also has a downside as illustrated in this story from our partners at the Wall Street Journal which chronicles reasons for a six day lockdown in the state of South Australia. – Alec Hogg.___STEADY_PAYWALL___.A whole Australian state shut down because of a takeout pizza that didn't exist.An allegedly misleading story raised fears a virulent strain of Covid-19 was spreading via surfaces such as pizza boxes..By Stuart Condie.Updated Nov. 20, 2020 7:31 am ET.SYDNEY—Soon after authorities in South Australia state were told a man had contracted Covid-19 after buying a takeout pizza from a restaurant with an infected employee, they ordered more than 1.7 million people to stay at home.Schools were shut. Outdoor exercise was banned for six days. The state premier—worried by how quickly a virus outbreak had nearly spiraled out of control in neighboring Victoria state—asked the federal government to halt international flights into Adelaide, Australia's fifth-biggest city by population.Except, as it turned out, the man was an employee of the pizza restaurant, who likely contracted the virus from a co-worker. Health authorities say he misled them, sending them scrambling to find other customers who may have been infected."Had this person been truthful to the contact-tracing teams, we would not have gone into a six-day lockdown," said Grant Stevens, the state's top ranking police officer.To authorities, a customer contracting Covid-19 simply by purchasing a pizza was an indication the virus could be spreading widely in the community. It also suggested a virulent strain of Covid-19 could be circulating, with people potentially being infected through contact with surfaces such as cardboard pizza boxes. Instead, the man had worked alongside his infected colleague in the kitchen at the Woodville Pizza Bar in suburban Adelaide, which narrowed the group who could have also become infected.The episode illustrates how lawmakers who act aggressively and impose stringent restrictions on discovery of only a few cases can be wrong-footed. South Australia opted to lock down the state from midnight on Wednesday when it had confirmed 22 cases of local transmission, while awaiting test results of several more people suspected of having the virus.The decision to put the state into lockdown with only hours' notice was criticized by business leaders, who feared it would set a precedent that other Australian states might follow. Residents queued outside grocery stores in searing temperatures ahead of the restrictions coming into force."We all need to take health advice seriously," Stephen Myatt, the South Australian regional head of national employer association Ai Group, said on Wednesday. "But decisions involving such extreme action as stay at home orders and widespread industry shutdown should be made with a greater understanding of industry ramifications."Other countries that aggressively imposed restrictions after a virus outbreak have found the strategy to be successful. In August, New Zealand told people to stay at home and closed nonessential businesses in its biggest city, Auckland, after detecting four locally transmitted cases. The pandemic restrictions were lifted early last month.On Friday, South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said the lockdown would end sooner than originally planned, with restrictions eased from midnight Saturday and schools reopening Monday. Outdoor exercise was immediately permitted."To say that I am fuming is an understatement," said Mr. Marshall, who earlier in the week had been urging residents not to hoard food and other essentials ahead of the lockdown.Authorities said the man told the truth when he was questioned a second time, but didn't explain the reasons behind his original deception. Attempts to contact the pizza restaurant were unsuccessful, with its phone line apparently disconnected. A Facebook profile under the name of the restaurant's owner appeared to have been deleted.Authorities had determined the coronavirus strain was likely to be less infectious than they had feared.Catherine Bennett, chair in Epidemiology at Australia's Deakin University, said such a virulent strain would have been unusual, but authorities had been worried that the virus was spreading without people having close contact with each other."They thought any casual contact, anyone who collected a pizza, was potentially exposed in a way that could lead to infection," Prof. Bennett said. "That changes your perception of who is at risk and who the close contacts are."The cluster in Adelaide, South Australia's state capital, has been traced to a cleaner at a hotel being used to quarantine returned travelers. Two hotel guards are believed to have contracted the infection from her, and one of them also worked at the pizza bar alongside the man who authorities allege misled them.Prof. Bennett said contact tracers had been confused because the apparent infection of security guards at two different facilities would have been extremely unusual.Still, the Adelaide cluster highlights how hotel quarantine is a key vulnerability in countries that have managed to suppress the coronavirus so far. Victoria's outbreak, which involved active cases rising from 42 in mid-June to nearly 8,000 two months later, began with a breach in its hotel-quarantine system.Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.comCopyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8Appeared in the November 21, 2020, print edition as 'Pizza Takeout Fib Shut Down Australian State.'

Australian state locked down because of a non-existent takeout pizza – With insights from The Wall Street Journal

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