Yahoo Finance Covid SA: McDonald's sees huge line-up after lockdown lifted
As South Australia’s brief Covid lockdown ended, people flocked to McDonald’s to celebrate as restaurants and pubs were allowed to reopen.
The statewide lockdown ended at 11.59pm (local time) on Saturday, meaning people were allowed out of their homes and footage shared by 7News shows people lining up in their vehicles to get a feed at the fast food chain.
“We just really appreciate companies like McDonald’s opening up to the public,” one person told the news outlet from his car with his friends.
“Except this line-up is probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” one of his passengers added.
“It really shows a lot about our population.”
McDonald’s confirmed to Yahoo News Australia the fast food chain received “a lot of love” when the lockdown lifted.
“We were very pleased to be ready and able to open and start serving again from 12.01am thanks to the terrific work and commitment of our Franchisees, restaurant teams and suppliers,” a spokesperson said.
“We’re glad to be back and meeting our customers’ needs for safe, contactless dine-in, drive thru and delivery.”
It wasn’t just McDonald’s which opened up to South Australian’s as the lockdown ended, some pubs welcomed back patrons at 12am on Sunday too, 7News footage showed.
Other Covid restrictions still remain in SA
While the strict lockdown has been lifted, South Australia is still subject to restrictions.
Only 10 people are allowed to book in at pubs and restaurants, schools will reopen on Monday and non-essential businesses are allowed to open their doors again.
Private gatherings of up to 50 people can go ahead as long as there is no more than one person per four square metres.
However community sport and recreation centres are still not allowed to operate and people are being encouraged to continue working from home for the next eight to 10 days if possible.
South Australians are urged to wear masks where they cannot physically distance.
The lockdown, which was originally slated for six days, was lifted early after it came to light a worker at a pizza restaurant lied to contact tracers.
Premier Steven Marshall said investigators spoke to the worker on Saturday and seized electronic devices from him.
Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier justified the harsh lockdown on Sunday by showing modelling she received last week as she decided how to best deal with the emerging outbreak.
It showed there was a 50 per cent chance there would have been about 100 daily cases by mid-December and a smaller but "not negligible" chance that numbers would reach 200 per day.
"What we can say is that we absolutely were looking at facing a second wave," Prof Spurrier said, claiming she had "no regrets" about her decision.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she would not shutdown NSW if she was presented with those figures.
"Look, it's not for me to question what other states think or do... but I wouldn't have shut down my state after having that information," Ms Berejiklian said.
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