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A coronavirus-infected couple who fled Melbourne and road tripped across three states were moving to Queensland for work, health authorities have revealed.
The pair escaped Victoria’s ‘circuit breaker’ Covid lockdown on June 1 and went on a 1,900km road trip through several vulnerable regional communities in NSW before arriving in Queensland on June 5.
The woman, 44, tested positive on Wednesday but may have been infectious from the day she left Melbourne which was already in lockdown.
On Thursday morning, Queensland Health confirmed her husband had also contracted the virus. The couple are both in Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
Health authorities have confirmed the pair did not have an exemption to leave Victoria and travel to Queensland.
Meanwhile, NSW Health on Thursday afternoon announced eight new venues across regional parts of the state which may have been exposed to the virus including a Coles supermarket and a Chemist Warehouse.
Drive through testing clinics have been set up out the front of the Vandenberg Hotel in Forbes after news that a Covid infected couple travelled through
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said police would now ‘investigate whether the couple came (into Queensland) through any other process’.
Victoria had been declared a hot spot at the time the couple entered Queensland, meaning Victorians were unable to enter the sunshine state without an exemption.
Those granted entry would then have to undergo 14 days in hotel quarantine.
Dr Young said she was grateful for the couple who were working with contact tracers to identify any potentially exposed venues.
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said they were waiting for more information regarding how the couple entered the state.
‘I don’t want to jump to conclusions until I know all of the facts as to whether they did have a travel declaration,’ Ms D’Ath said.
‘I understand the husband was here with a new job. We know that that is one of the grounds where people can travel due to work commitments.’
Health authorities have identified 17 close contacts of the couple with three so far testing negative.
Kim Fetherstone, who owns the Vandenberg Hotel in Forbes, in New South Wales‘ Central West, closed her pub for deep cleaning when she discovered the Victorian woman and her husband had dined there while infectious.
Ms Featherstone says the closure, on State of Origin night, cost her at least $7,000.
Her entire staff has been ordered to be tested and Ms Fetherstone has no plans to reopen until each one of them returns a negative result, so as not to potentially put her vulnerable community at risk.
Shane Patton, Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, said police are investigating whether the couple may have been moving interstate and had a legitimate reason to travel.
The pair were only detected when they came forward for testing because the man needed a negative result for his job.
Health authorities in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland are scrambling to track down hundreds of people who may have been exposed to the virus during their interstate trip
Kim Fetherstone, who owns the Vandenberg Hotel in Forbes, in New South Wales’ Central West, closed her pub for deep cleaning when she discovered a Victorian woman and her husband had dined there while infectious
There are also concerns the couple may have lied on their border declaration passes.
‘It’s ridiculous. And it’s selfish,’ Ms Fetherstone said on Thursday morning. ‘This doesn’t just affect me, but it impacts so many of us in town.’
After a particularly tough year due to the pandemic, she and her staff had ‘heavily promoted’ the State of Origin NRL game, trying their best to lure townsfolk on what is already their busiest night of the week.
Wednesday nights are cheap steak nights at the Vandenberg Hotel and attract many of their regulars.
With the added potential of customers coming to watch the football game on a big screen, Ms Fetherstone estimates she would have earned about $7,000 during the dinner rush.
Kim Fetherstone, who owns the Vandenberg Hotel in the small Central West town, lost out on at least $7,000 worth of business on State of Origin night after closing her doors when she learned the couple had spent four hours while potentially infectious at her venue
Two other cafes in regional NSW towns have been impacted by the Covid scare
‘It’s impacted us so greatly. It’s tough as it is in a small country town without people coming through and doing this,’ she said.
Ms Fetherstone and her staff learned they would be named as an exposure site just five minutes before the media was briefed on the situation.
At 5.30pm, less than three hours out from Origin and at the start of their dinner shift, she made the decision to close up shop.
On Thursday, authorities turned the front of her business into a Covid testing centre for worried locals.
Three states are scrambling to contain a potential Covid outbreak after an infected woman left locked-down Melbourne and drove through NSW to the Sunshine Coast (Mooloolaba pictured)
Cafe Omega closed on Thursday for a deep clean after a Covid-infected couple attended twice
The Brew Coffee & Juice Bar say it is unlikely the couple spent three hours in the venue
Sunny’s Cafe at Moffat Beach (pictured) on the Sunshine Coast was also identified as an exposure venue after the couple dined there between 2.45-3pm on June 6, one day after arriving in Queensland
Health authorities in Victoria, NSW and Queensland are scrambling to track down hundreds of people who may have been exposed to the virus during the couple’s interstate trip.
Police are investigating whether the couple crossed the NSW-Queensland border at the remote rural town of Goondiwindi on June 5 in a bid to evade authorities.
The couple likely drove the scenic route so they could avoid passing through the Gold Coast – where police perform 100 random intercepts a day with strict border control measures in place.
Sunny’s Cafe at Moffat Beach on the Sunshine Coast was also identified as an exposure venue after the couple dined there between 2.45-3pm on June 6, one day after arriving in Queensland.
The manager on duty said four staff at the small cafe have been tested and are in isolation.
If any return a positive test, the entire cafe will be forced to close for at least 14 days.
‘No one expected this,’ the manager said. ‘We have a lot of tourists on the weekends and you chat with them but you’re not exactly quizzing them on where they’ve come from or what they’re doing here.’
Despite the added stress of wondering whether they will be without an income for two weeks, management refuse to pass judgement on the couple.
‘I hope they’ve got a valid reason,’ she said. ‘I can’t imagine what that valid reason could be, but they’re still people at the end of the day. And they’ve done the wrong thing but we just have to hope now that it all is okay in the end.’
The infected woman had been experiencing symptoms – including loss of her sense of smell – from June 3 but only sought a test on June 8.
In an extraordinary twist, the pair were only detected when they came forward for testing because the husband needed negative results for work purposes.
Five close contacts of the couple remain in isolation, quarantining at a house together on the Sunshine Coast.
Sunny’s Cafe at Moffat Beach on the Sunshine Coast was also identified as an exposure venue after the couple dined there between 2.45-3pm on June 6, one day after arriving in Queensland
The couple crossed the NSW/Queensland border at the remote town of Goondiwindi, four hours inland of the Gold Coast where police are much more strict with their patrols
Victorians were forbidden from travelling more than five kilometres from home at the time the couple began their trip on June 1.
NSW did not shut its border with Victoria, but any travellers from the state were supposed to abide by the lockdown rules even in NSW.
Queensland required all Victorian arrivals to spend two weeks in hotel quarantine.
Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said Queensland Police would investigate how the couple were able to enter the Sunshine State.
‘We’ll examine all those issues around passes – whether they were appropriate and what has happened – it is too early to say,’ he said.
‘It’s really important for us to remind the whole community that we cannot possibly check every single person moving around the country.’
