DR DOUG QUARRY MBBS, MSc (Community Health)
Rockhampton has not had a COVID case for about seven weeks, and perhaps has let its guard down.
A nurse tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday night.
The nurse worked while sick, even after being tested (a real “no no”), possibly infecting some of the 180 staff and 115 patients at the aged-care facility she worked in.
A Queensland Health “rapid-respond squad” is now contact tracing, quarantining, and testing. The aged-care facility has been locked down.
One report suggests the nurse may have been infected while in Brisbane six weeks ago. Another possibility that there is asymptomatic transmission occurring in Rockhampton – and maybe elsewhere in Queensland. We just don’t know if this is happening.
We wait to see if this exposure develops into a serious COVID-19 cluster in Rockhampton.
