The SA Premier: "I reckon our borders will be open by Christmas, so everyone can have family over!"
The SA Health CEO: "Aaaahhh...no..."
South Australia's top health bureaucrat has contradicted the expectations of the state's Premier, expressing doubt about a plan to scrap COVID-19 quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated interstate travellers by Christmas.
Last week, SA Premier Steven Marshall said he was hopeful that anyone looking to travel to SA who had been double vaccinated and had not been to any exposure sites "will be able to come back and enjoy a relatively normal Christmas". "I think people, this Christmas, can look forward to having people coming from interstate to spend time with them," he said on Wednesday. "People can have some confidence that as we get closer to Christmas there will be pathways for people to come back, and that we'll also be avoiding statewide lockdowns."
But SA Health chief executive Chris McGowan today indicated that that deadline may be premature.
"It's not our expectation that there'll be no quarantine requirements even for double vaccinated people at this stage," Mr McGowan told a parliamentary committee. When asked whether he was aware of any health advice suggesting that, by December 25, there would be no requirement for quarantining "if you're coming from interstate", Mr McGowan responded: "It may have come from someone else, but it hasn't come from me."
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What is it with these McGowan blokes and their border policies? Are they bloody brothers or something?!? So what's that about following the "Health Advice" there, Premier?