My Quarantine boredom post. Wrong place, wrong time ................................

As you probably all know, SA joined NSW and Vic in lockdown earlier this week

We went to "stage 4" restrictions on Monday at midnight then after a family that had returned from overseas (Argentina via Europe), quarantined in NSW, returned home after testing Negative, then both daughter and dad returned positive results after the 81 year old admitted to Modbury Hospital when he became unwell.

A number of exposure sites across metro Adelaide where being announced and regularly being updated.

Pretty soon other family members started popping up as being positive, all had been out and about in the previous few days while contagious.

Tuesday after learning that a couple of community transmissions had occurred in well attended private functions, we went into full lockdown at 6:00pm Tuesday night.

When the announcement happened I was already in ALDI and about to drop into Coles, by the time I left ALDI the shop had gone from me and 2 others shopping to line ups at the registers
I went across the road to Coles, struggled to get in the carpark but fluked someone backing out by the door and got a park.

I picked up some bread (ALDI's comes defrosted after travelling to SA frozen from NSW   ) and a couple of small items, made it out the self serve checkout which I normally refuse to use it was mayhem outside. There was a 100m line to get in the shop, there were 3 lines, 1 up to a km long to get into the carpark. I got home, worked out what time I'd need to be at the Airport to pick up my daughter who was flying back into SA from Tasmania with her boyfriend at 10:00 pm that night.

About 8:30 pm I saw another update of exposure sites in the form of a Media Release posted by a friend working for SA health, she had put it on her Facebook page, said free to share but not released or on website yet. I had a quick look and Modbury Bunnings 11:30 - 12:15 was there, my first reaction was  "F***!!!!"

I live 500m from Bunnings Adelaide Airport, 4.5 km from Bunnings Mile End and had to drive past Windsor Gardens (14.5km from home) to get to a Bunnings store I'd never stepped foot in 21km from home, WHY?

I do Yoga and Pilates as part of managing a lower back injury, both through the Anytime Fitness gym that I'm a member of.

Monday last week my Pilates instructor, Goldy, arrived at the gym saying she was hurting all over which was strange, that was normally me or one of the others, turns out she was moving into her new house and had been using muscle she'd never used. It ended up being a 1 on 1 class and she asked who would she call to have a letter box installed, I volunteered to do it after a yoga class Saturday, and before I started work at 3:00pm

Saturday Morning 17 July

* 9:00 to 9:45 Yoga 
* 10:45 I arrived at Goldy's
* by 11:20 the letterbox was standing up with props in quickset cement and I didn't have to be at work for a shower before 2:30 to start at 3:00 so I asked if there was anything else I could help with while I was there
* at about 11:30 we arrived at Bunnings Modbury
* At 11:43 she paid at the checkout and we were gone by 11:45
* Back again at 12:25 to purchase some shed shelving, she paid at the checkout at 12:42 and we were loaded and gone by 12:50

AM Monday 19 July a heap of sites around Modbury get named as exposure sites with critical times, I hadn't been to any of them

PM Monday 19 July more sites around Modbury and other Metro Adelaide areas get named as exposure sites with critical times, I hadn't been to any of them either

AM Tuesday 20 July more sites around Modbury and other Metro Adelaide areas get named as exposure sites with critical times, I still hadn't been to any of them either

Service my pushbike and get ready to do laps of street within 2.5 km of home for exercise

PM Tuesday 20 July more sites around Modbury and other Metro Adelaide areas get named as exposure sites with critical times, I still hadn't been to any of them either

Later PM Tuesday 20 July more sites around Modbury and other Metro Adelaide areas get named as exposure sites with critical times, Bunnings Modbury between 11:30 and 12:15 on Saturday 17 July was added to the list, all of a sudden my son and I were in quarantine for 14 days (from possible exposure) and had to have an immediate test followed by a day 5 (from exposure) test and a 13 day from exposure test 

Our nearest 2 test sites are at the airport so we headed straight over there, the drive through Clinical Labs of Aust had closed at 6:00pm and wouldn't reopen until 7:00 am Wednesday, off to the main terminal (which for those from interstate has no flights after the 11:00pm curfew), we stood in line while the parking time ticket over, messaged my daughter to tell her to go home with her boyfriend instead of to home where she'd have to quarantine as well if she did. At about 10:40 we were told, go home, you won't be tested  before it closes at 11:00

I nearly went into the only Adelaide 24 hour test site at the Victoria Park race track site but decided to go home, et the alarm early and head to the Clinical Labs site about 6:00-6:30 in the morning, thankfully that's what we did

Wednesday 21 July (Day 4 from possible exposure)

* Alarm 6:00 goes off
* 6:15 leave home
* 6:20 arrive at Clinical Labs to join a que already 900 m long, they don't open until 7:00. Have a look on Facebook, see a post from a mate that had arrived at the Victoria Park que  before 9:00 pm the previous night, he still hadn't made it into the track and was beside a sign that said "approx 3 hour wait"
* 7:03, the line finally moves, the industrial area at the airport was chaos with no traffic control and the line behind us was at least double that of the line in front of us
* 7:10 we moved again
* 7:15 we moved again, just after that Federal Police arrived trying to sort out the mess, 1 copper stayed behind the car in front of us to hold the spot, the other copper asked us to follow him until we re-joined the line from a different road, looking in the mirror there was a snake of well over a km behind us
* 8:55 we were finally tested and told 24-48 hours for results (last test there was less than 4 hours)

Thursday 22 July (Day 5 from possible exposure)

* Alarm 5:00 goes off
* 5:15 leave home
* 5:20 arrive at Clinical Labs to join a que about 200m long and a 1 hour 40 minute wait until opening
* 6:30, we could see the line that had already gone around 2 large industrial blocks, at least 2 km long
* 7:00 we saw cars in front move, les than a minute later we moved forward
* 7:10 we arrived at the entrance gate
* 7:25 we were tested
* 7:30 we arrived home and are not allowed to leave again until our 13 day next next Friday
*9:30 pm,  I received the test result from the 1st test, NEGATIVE!!  

Friday 23 July 

*1:20 pm,  I received the test result from the 2nd test, NEGATIVE!!  


So here I am, trying to find something to do during the 2 coldest days Adelaide has had in over 30 years and to top it off, while I was doing some much overdue scanning of invoices, my just over 12 month old scanner shit itself, the drive gears for the reader stripped, I couldn't find what I had done with that invoice but logged into the Epson site where I had registered it to be reminded that at registration I received a bonus 3 month warranty extension, 10 day of it still left. A phone call to Officeworks, a couple of screen shots of the registration details and a call back to tell me don't bother going through Epson for the extended warranty, they will honour it and replace the machine for me.

8 days until the next compulsory stick up the nose (that will make it 5 times in total in the past 12 months) and hopefully I can come out of quarantine Saturday 31 July to a State that is no longer in lockdown

Hope you're going to get some free classes
You will have the shiniest Bandit around.
Fingers crossed

The classes are included with my membership although I have been promised a few free PT sessions 

It's too bloody cold to be outside cleaning the bike

did you go into quarantine voluntary or did SA health call and order you too?

madmax wrote:did you go into quarantine voluntary or did SA health call and order you too?

I did it voluntarily, 1st 3 days of my quarantine period are before the Bunning was listed, then 7 days are in lockdown at any rate so I guess other than not being able to go to the shops once a day or exercise withing 2.5kmof home, I've only got another 4 days after that.

The person I was with was contacted by SA Health, we both scanned the QR code that day, we both completed the online notification form and she has also had a random compliance check as well as the original contact.

My guess is that they don't have the staff to deal with contacting everyone, even with additional staff seconded from other government agencies to help out.

NSW asks;
"If in a location, isolate & get tested " then it changes depending upon what the exposure level is.
Could be- till negative result, or, for 14 days even if negative result.
IMHO,
I think for all arrivals, they need to be looking at a 3 week period, in a proper facility that can test the night before release not 3 or 4 days prior.

GSX1100G wrote:
 for 14 days even if negative result.

That's what it is in SA with a test as soon as you become aware that you have been in an exposure site, Day 5 after exposure, day 13 after exposure, if you get 3 negative results you go back to life as normal

madmax wrote:did you go into quarantine voluntary or did SA health call and order you too?

On day 7 (today) I received the thank you for doing thhe right thing and continue to quarantine order message

"... life as normal"....that would be nice.

Seriously though Chook, hope all goes well and you, your family, as well as the rest of the country gets through this as fast and safe as possible, thinking of you.

You sortied out your sox draw Ian ?  Just caught a clip on ABC TV from one of your Health officials on what to do during lock down. 

barry_mcki wrote:You sortied out your sox draw Ian ?  Just caught a clip on ABC TV from one of your Health officials on what to do during lock down. 

Haha, that would be our chief medical officer, professor Spurrier, she's come up with a few doozies the past year and a half 

Chook wrote:

madmax wrote:did you go into quarantine voluntary or did SA health call and order you too?

I did it voluntarily, 1st 3 days of my quarantine period are before the Bunning was listed, then 7 days are in lockdown at any rate so I guess other than not being able to go to the shops once a day or exercise withing 2.5kmof home, I've only got another 4 days after that.

The person I was with was contacted by SA Health, we both scanned the QR code that day, we both completed the online notification form and she has also had a random compliance check as well as the original contact.

My guess is that they don't have the staff to deal with contacting everyone, even with additional staff seconded from other government agencies to help out.

The reason I ask is we wouldn't get paid if we voluntarily went into quarantine.
However I think it would be enough that if the government annouces that everyone who was at this location needs to quarantine and get tested. Instead of a personal order.

GSX1100G wrote:NSW asks;
"If in a location, isolate & get tested " then it changes depending upon  what the exposure level is.
Could be- till negative result, or, for 14 days even if negative result.
IMHO,
I think for all arrivals,  they need to be looking at a 3 week period, in a proper facility that can test the night before release not 3 or 4 days prior.

You can't test the night before because they need the results before you leave.
However Vic is now getting results inside of 24 hours. Not sure how the other states are going with that.
I agree it should be 3 weeks. To many have shown negative and then become positive a day or two outside of quarantine.

madmax wrote:However Vic is now getting results inside of 24 hours. Not sure how the other states are going with that.

In SA it is, as I'm sure it is else where, dependant on demand

My first test last year (had a bad hay fever, couldn't return to work without it) took just over 24 hour (Sa pathology ,SA's government owned pathology service)

My second test (hay fever again) earlier this year at Clinical Laboratories Australia to about 9 hours, my son had his results from them in 4 hour only a few week earlier

Wednesday last week after I found I'd been exposed took about 34 hours to receive the results, on the following day (earlier the same day that I received my results) I was tested again at about 7:30 am, I had my results the following day, 30 hours after my test

A mate who was tested at the 24 hour CBD drive through site received his results from A pathology 10 hours after testing on Wednesday however where I had waited in a que for about 2 hours that morning, he had waited over 13 hours from about 8:30 pm through the night to be tested at about 9:30 am

madmax wrote:

Chook wrote:

madmax wrote:did you go into quarantine voluntary or did SA health call and order you too?

I did it voluntarily, 1st 3 days of my quarantine period are before the Bunning was listed, then 7 days are in lockdown at any rate so I guess other than not being able to go to the shops once a day or exercise withing 2.5kmof home, I've only got another 4 days after that.

The person I was with was contacted by SA Health, we both scanned the QR code that day, we both completed the online notification form and she has also had a random compliance check as well as the original contact.

My guess is that they don't have the staff to deal with contacting everyone, even with additional staff seconded from other government agencies to help out.

The reason I ask is we wouldn't get paid if we voluntarily went into quarantine.
However I think it would be enough that if the government annouces that everyone who was at this location needs to quarantine and get tested. Instead of a personal order.

I was effectively in compulsory quarantine but entered quarantine voluntarily knowing that I would be contacted and to do so at some time.

What I didn't know is that it would take from in the evening Tuesday night when the site I'd visited on Saturday last week was announced as an exposure site, to Yesterday afternoon (Saturday) to receive the direction to go into quarantine, the person I was with received her order within about 36 hours to enter quarantine.

SA Health downgraded the exposure site  I was at on 17 July to a Tier 3 site, quarantine until 1st negative result, I can go for a walk and bike ride now

The talk at the moment suggests that we are in a good position for lockdown to end tomorrow night with restrictions, I might get to go back to work Wednesday for one afternoon shift before I go on 4 days of!!