Bizarre moment top doctor who told AFL fans to ‘duck the footy’ to avoid Covid compares lockdown to ‘Where’s Wally’ after featuring in a series of online memes
- SA Chief Health Officer says Covid lockdown is a lot like Where’s Wally cartoon
- Professor Nicola Spurrier became a meme for her red and white striped jacket
- But the top doctors says its appropriate because ‘we’re trying to find the virus’
- Dr Spurrier also gave update on husband’s sock drawer at media conference
South Australia’s top doctor has compared lockdown to the puzzle book series Where’s Wally at a bizarre media conference where she also updated the state on her husband’s untidy sock drawer.
Chief Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier, who once told footy fans to ‘duck’ if the ball was kicked into the crowd so they don’t catch coronavirus from it, was asked by reporters on Thursday about being the subject of memes on social media.
Locked down SA residents have been flooding the internet with hilarious light-hearted videos and images of Dr Spurrier and Premier Steven Marshall, as the state deals with its latest Covid outbreak which has now climbed to 14 cases.
Dr Spurrier replied by saying she particularly enjoyed comparisons of her in a red and white stripped jacket to Wally because it was a good analogy for the virus.
Locked down SA residents have been flooding the internet with hilarious light-hearted videos and images of Dr Spurrier (pictured) and Premier Steven Marshall
Dr Spurrier said she particularly enjoyed comparisons of her in a red and white stripped jacket (left) to the subject of the puzzle book series Where’s Wally (right) because it was a good analogy for the virus
‘My kids showed me the meme of Where’s Wally… and I thought this is quite a nice thing to put up on Facebook because this what we are dealing with at the moment. We are trying to find the virus,’ she said.
‘If you think about the photographs and Where’s Wally, everyone is stationary.
‘I want you to all stay stationary so that my team can find the virus, i.e. Where’s Wally.’
The strange comments came moments after she updated the state about her husband’s messy sock drawer.
Dr Spurrier was giving advice to residents living under stay-at-home orders on Wednesday when she said: ‘Think of some hobbies to do to take your mind of being in lockdown.
‘As I said to my husband when I left home this morning, this is the day you can tidy up your sock drawer.’
A meme comparing Chief Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier, to Kath and Kim character Prude and Trude has proved a popular online meme
When reporters quizzed her on Thursday about how the big sock drawer clean up went, Dr Spurrier was happy to indulge.
‘My dear husband had a lot of friends emailing him asking how he was going,’ she said.
‘He’s a very tidy person and also extremely talented but happens to be in lockdown because his business is closed.
‘But he has quite a few other drawers to tidy up and quite a number of sheds as well.’
The public health expert has become a beloved figure in her home state with her unintentionally funny comments leaving South Australians and the rest of the nation in stitches.
But her odd health advice has sometimes been met with bewilderment and ridicule.
‘As I said to my husband when I left home this morning, this is the day you can tidy up your sock draw,’ Mr Spurrier (right) told her partner David (left, getting vaccinated)
Last month she advised footy fans to ‘duck’ if the ball comes near them in the crowd because it could be contaminated by Covid-19.
Dr Spurrier gave the extraordinary advice while simultaneously giving the green light for AFL club Collingwood to enter the state from virus-stricken Melbourne and to play a match in front of a huge crowd at Adelaide Oval against the Crows.
‘Not that I’ve been to many football games, but I have noticed occasionally it does get kicked into the crowd,’ she said.
‘If the ball comes towards you, my advice is to duck and do not touch that ball.’
There are now currently 71 exposure sites across Adelaide, with almost 17,600 tests being carried in the past 24 hours, with some residents forced to wait in car queues at drive-thru testing clinics for up to 12 hours.
A further two locally acquired infections on Thursday brought the total number of cases in the state to 14.
Seven of the positive tests have been traced back to the Tenafeate Creek Wines in Yattalunga, North of Adelaide, and a number of other infections have been linked to the The Greek restaurant in the city.
The outbreak was sparked by an 81-year-old man who returned from Argentina and served his hotel quarantine period in NSW before testing positive in SA.
The state was ordered into a seven-day lockdown on Tuesday at 6pm.