A Man’s Lie to COVID-19 Contact Tracers Caused South Australia to Lock Down

Imagine now you’re back in school.

Your teacher asks everyone to pass up their homework and all seems fine.

Suddenly, the next day, all of you are getting punished because one clown lied about doing it.

And maybe everyone decides to give him a giant scolding.

Now, recreate this scenario but it’s for lying about contact tracing.

Man Lies To COVID-19 Contact Tracers

South Australia has not been having a good time.

They recently implemented a six-day emergency lockdown on 19 Nov to contain a sudden virus cluster.

Or if you want to traumatise a Singaporean, a six-day circuit breaker.

This was huge, as South Australia had no local transmissions since 31 Oct and had a total of only 551 cases.

And while six days may seem short, just think of how fast a lockdown could damage the economy and businesses.

But as it turns out, all of this was from a lie someone told contact tracers, CNA reported as a followup to South Australia’s case.

Lied About Activities

Imagine picking one of the worst pandemics of all time to pull such a stunt.

The country’s state Premier Steven Marshall told a media conference in Adelaide that a man alleged that he only went to a pizza bar to buy pizza there.

However, he had actually worked several shifts at the said outlet with another worker who tested positive.

It was assumed that the man had caught the virus during a short exposure.

This led to believe that it was from a highly contagious strain.

Marshall said that the man’s story “did not add up” and confronted him, eventually exposing the lie.

Needless to say, he was (rightfully) angered over this.

“Had this person been truthful to the contact tracing teams, we would not have gone into a six-day lockdown.”

Restrictions To Be Lifted Early

There is one slight bright side to this: the circuit breaker restrictions would be lifted soon.

Things like outdoor gatherings, weddings and funerals all had to stop during the short circuit breaker.

Marshall said that stay-at-home orders would end by midnight on Saturday and most businesses would also be allowed to open.

You would also assume that the lying man would get some punishments too.

Well…he’s not.

A police commissioner said that there’s currently no penalty for lying to contact tracers.

The keyword is currently, as it is being reviewed right now.

He said that the impact the lie had was “devastating” and the hardship was “not lost on us.”

A team who reviewed the information provided by the man to contract tracers were initially suspicious of what they received.

It’s currently not known why the accused had lied in the first place.

Featured Image: Craig Dingle / Shutterstock.com