Queensland narrowly avoids lockdown after five new local cases of COVID-19
Residents across Queensland have narrowly avoided a lockdown following the detection of five new local cases of COVID-19 in the state in the last day.
All five of the new cases are close contacts of the student at St Thomas More College at Sunnybank in Brisbane, who tested positive yesterday.
“The good news is the five local cases are from the same family. So that is absolutely really good news,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
“In the next 24 to 48 hours we’ll be closely monitoring the situation and if we start seeing any seeding, then we may have to take very quick, fast action.”
Yesterday, the student tested positive after having been infectious at the school and community for a number of days.
Authorities believe the source is linked to a New South Wales resident who visited the family last week.
It is not currently known how the NSW resident came to be in Queensland. He has since returned home.
“We also believe that the source of this cluster could be a visitor who came to the family’s home from NSW,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“So we are doing further investigations there. But we believe we know at this stage the source of the virus.”
Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young said that the student tested positive after suffering from just a minor headache, highlighting the importance of seeking testing as early as possible.
“So, to have immediately gone out and got her daughter tested…to get that so quickly means we can respond by just asking people to do what they’ve been doing so well,” she said.
Although health staff aren’t certain the infection came from NSW, they believe it is “most likely”.
“We’re urgently working with NSW colleagues because this gentleman who was visiting has gone back to NSW, to get himself tested,” Dr Young added.
“But I think that’s the most likely source for this outbreak with this family of five.
“So, the children and the father were exposed to this visitor who we haven’t tested yet, I’ll just confirm that. We don’t have it. But I think it’s the most likely source.”
There are currently more than 1000 families from the St Thomas More College in Sunnybank that have been asked to quarantine at home for a full 14 days.
Exposure sites indicate the student may have been infectious in the community for three days.
The school has also been listed as a close contact location from Monday September 6 to Wednesday September 8.
Since then, a staff member at the Nathan Campus of Griffith University in Brisbane has also reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.
The staff member is the mother of the 13-year-old and is now also in isolation.
Ms Palaszczuk said she had very little interactions at the university while infectious.
“We’re quite comfortable there, we’re working through where the father works and exactly who needs to be contacted,” she said.
“But because we’ve got this so early. We’ve got it in in the first generation of cases. We’ve been able to bring this together and manage it.”
The news comes after it was announced that Queensland would reopen the border bubble arrangement for residents living in towns in northern NSW.
From 1am Monday, residents of the 12 NSW LGAs where stay at home orders will be lifted on Saturday will be able to travel into Queensland for essential purposes including work, school and medical care under the reinstated border bubble.
Similarly, Queensland residents will be allowed to enter the border zone for essential purposes and return to Queensland.
