South Australia went into a full lockdown after a pizza shop employee lied about his exposure to COVID-19, according to multiple reports.
What happened?
A pizza worker with COVID-19 lied about his interactions at the pizza shop, which promoted a nationwide lockdown, CNN reports.
- The employee said he had only been at the Woodville Pizza Bar to grab a takeout pizza. But he had actually been working regular shifts at the pizza restaurant.
- Officials said this promoted them to think the new strain of COVID-19 was contagious since the employee had said — again, it was a lie — that he had only been there for a minute.
How the lockdown began
The country went into lockdown, hoping to stop the spread of the highly contagious strain of the virus. The state of 1.7 million people went into a full lockdown as a result of the lie, according to CNN.
- The pizza shop was called a COVID-19 hot spot.
South Australia Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the lockdown wouldn’t have happened if the man had told the truth, BBC News reports.
- “We were operating on a premise that this person had simply gone to a pizza shop, (with) very short exposure and walked away having contracted the virus,” he said.
- “We now know they are a very close contact of another person who has been confirmed as being positive with Covid-19. It has changed the dynamic substantially.
- “Had this person been truthful to the contact-tracing teams, we would not have gone into a six-day lockdown.”
Reaction:
Premier Steven Marshall said Friday the decision upset him immensely since Australia has relied on lockdowns to keep the coronavirus infections low within the country, BBC News.
- “To say I am fuming is an understatement.”
- “We are absolutely livid with the actions of this individual and we will be looking very carefully at what consequences there (are) going to be.”