Let’s have a look at South Australia’s Pandemic Year of 2021.
2021 was a full pandemic year for every country in the World bar none. All the Australian States and Territories were in the same boat.
So how did Adelaide and the South Australia handle it. Let’s have a look.
I also did a prior post on Covid and the Australian response to it earlier at the onset of Covid. Here it is.
But let’s acknowledge first that the Federal restrictions played a big part on border entry from overseas. The States though had more control on health related Covid policies and regulations.
Australia’s federal restrictions
Together with New Zealand, Australia had the toughest border restrictions compared to any other country in the World. Which was a surprise on a number of fronts.
Firstly Australia is known for its liberal ethos and these appeared tough. Secondly the speed at which the borders was sealed in March 2020 on the early onset of Covid was unexpected.
Clearly the “quarantine” mindset associated with controlling entry of plants and animals comes to mind.
Both countries are well known for protecting their Island nations from invasive alien species of flora and fauna. We see that every time we return home from overseas as Quarantine Officers go thru our luggage. And I am certain this played a major part in their decision to seal the borders at that speed.
Other nations with no similar quarantine doctrine did not take that step.
UK faltered multiple times including arrivals walking thru Heathrow unimpeded by health screening checks. This despite the ravages of Covid becoming abundantly clear by mid 2020.
US was similar. In the meantime many nations in the Far East acted swiftly but not to the extent of imposing border closures.
Restrictions on leaving the country
The third and the biggest surprise. Australia not allowing citizens and PRs to exit the country with tightly controlled exceptions. And I mean tightly controlled. However exceptions were made on humanitarian grounds such as declining health and death of family members overseas .
Australians working overseas who returned prior to closure were asked to produce their work and residential visas of the country they were working in. They were also asked to provide the current lease agreement of their rented property overseas. Only then they were allowed to leave Australia.
I remember when I mentioned the requirements to foreign friends and colleagues there was a sense of disbelieve. They actually wondered if I got the details right.
When I explained that 40,000 Australians were stranded overseas and anxious to return. And the Country could not afford to let others leave without a valid reason made sense. It was better understood.
The States’ reaction
There was no objections from any of the States on Federal border closure and they all knuckled down to handle the health aspects.
They handled transmission, infection and healthcare with great intensity within their own states. And thru out 2020 and until August 2021, they were much in unison with the federal policy and restrictions.
South Australia’s moves
SA moved decisively on 2 fronts early – healthcare and restrictions.
Remember the stories coming out of Europe especially Italy in first half of 2020. Where hundreds and thousands of cases of hospitalisation with ICUs unable to handle the load. Patients requiring intubation. And the death rate mounting. Most understood the danger and supported the State.
The decisiveness proved key.
Royal Adelaide Hospital, our RAH formed 2 Rapid Response teams. Each working working up to 14 hours per shift.
Positive cases brought in were met by the Rapid Response Team on duty. They were wheeled thru a fully closed off quarantined corridor all the way to the wards. No other staff or members of public were let into this area. Its also included the ICU. Rigour in this case was also seen in other areas to contain Covid.
Vaccines set the stage for 2021 Pandemic Year. The fightback began early that year. With vaccines the vaccination rates began increasing day by day. There was a sense of relief.
There were targets to be met, daily reports rolled out to inform the public. And by August 2021, the roadmap to ease restrictions was announced. The runway was clear.
Covid deaths in South Australia
The level of control and healthcare yielded truly astonishing results. The State until the Federal borders opened after a period of 23 months lost only 4 patients to Covid.
One death is bad enough but number saved are remarkable by any measure. This compared to the death rates in Europe and the US where it went into the thousands.
This is an important achievement that we must not undervalue. The clear intent was to protect the elderly who were the most vulnerable.
26 months later we only lost one other patient after the border opened. Full credit to all the doctors, nurses and healthcare staff that worked hard with long hours to make this happen.
SA Police take charge
The Heath folks took care of testing regimes, vaccine roll-out, test sites and hospitalisation. SA Police looked after all other things such as border entry, quarantine medi-hotels and contact tracing. Their load was just as huge.
I remember SA Police manning the online applications for return to SA. I was rejected twice. First the official and automated notice of rejection. Shortly after a follow-up email which was clearly done by a human. And clearly personalised to my situation and with advice what to do. This was hugely appreciated and my thanks to SA Police.
SA Health Admin misses a beat
The Health folks manning the Health exemptions online were a different cup of tea. They were either not well resourced in numbers or in quality or both. I was rejected and when I queried I was told I did not provide proof of residency when I had.
Eventually thru out-of-channel appeals, I was notified by Health via email that I did not require exemption. I could apply to SA Police for border entry approval.
When I arrived in Adelaide Airport, passengers with health exemption documents were immediately directed to counters for processing. I did not need one as I had spent 14 days quarantine in Sydney but I was told it was needed. I suspect I was the odd passengers from the flight that did not have one. So this led to further questioning.
SA Police with their up to date information on changes cleared me. I had prior official documented approval for entry from them. SA Health email was shown stating that I did not need one.
In Parliament it was revealed the health exemption backlog was up to 8 weeks. It did explain the confusion.
Except for the blip
Except for the SA Health Exemption blip over the lengthy backlog and poor handling, I thought SA did remarkably well for the Pandemic Year. With plenty of evidence to show. Firstly the mortality rate is remarkable even on a per capita basis.
Secondly the speed at which the unfortunate pizza incident involving the Spanish post-grad was handled. And when infection of medi-hotel staff infection occurred. Followed by immediate and repeated responses when community infection were detected. The 24 hr drive-in at Victoria Park. These are all great examples. The sense of good planning, urgency and the abundance of caution were evident.
2022 onwards
With 2021 Pandemic Year out of the way, I will wait for 2022 to complete.
With the opening of borders no one should be surprised by the rising number of infection and deaths. It’s a calculated risk and we cannot close ourselves out much longer.
What is clear is that the Vaccines played a huge part in reducing hospitalisation and fatality rates. In many cases, slight symptoms or none at all – asymptomatic. The period from positive to negative test came down considerably. The wait turned out to be the right decision.
I hope the worst is over and the normalising Covid is taking place all over the World including South Australia.