This was published 4 years ago
COVID nurse tests positive, second case at Ipswich school confirmed
By Lydia Lynch and Toby Crockford
A nurse working in a COVID-19 hospital ward is among two new cases linked to a cluster spreading from Ipswich.
The case was revealed as a second student from an Ipswich school was diagnosed with coronavirus and a Logan school reopened after an infected person visited its after-hours childcare centre last week.
Patients lining up at the Ipswich Hospital COVID-19 testing clinic late last month.Credit: Lydia Lynch
The 37-year-old male nurse worked at the Ipswich Hospital, where all staff have been required to wear personal protective equipment since an outbreak at a youth detention centre in August.
The man had been treating patients in the hospital's dedicated COVID ward, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said.
"He identified he had abdominal pain, not normally considered a symptom of COVID-19, but he was incredibly wise and he identified that that was a symptom that could be from COVID-19," Mr Miles said.
“He went and got tested and that test came back positive.
“This underlines how we can all do the right thing by monitoring our health and if we have any symptoms at all that are of any cause for concern, we can go and get tested – so we thank him very much for that."
The man is in a stable condition with "relatively mild" symptoms.
The second positive case detected in Queensland on Tuesday was an 18-year-old high school student from Staines Memorial College at Redbank Plains, who tested positive in quarantine.
The student is the second of the school's 600 students to have contracted the virus.
On Sunday, a senior student at Staines Memorial College was confirmed to be carrying the virus and the school announced it would close for two weeks for cleaning and to allow staff to be tested.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the college was still closed on Tuesday and health workers were testing all students as well.
Meanwhile, a school in Logan, south of Brisbane, has undergone deep cleaning after a confirmed coronavirus case visited the after-hours care centre within the school grounds last Thursday.
Edens Landing State School principal Clint Curran said in a letter to parents that the school continued to take precautions regarding health and hygiene.
"A person associated with the school community has been diagnosed with COVID-19. This person visited the YMCA Outside School Hours Care service operating at our school on August 27," he said.
"The Metro South Public Health Unit has assessed the risks to the school community and advised the Department of Education there is negligible risk to members of the school community and it is safe for students and staff to attend school."
A senior government source said the infected person was at the school very briefly to pick up a child.
The school was cleaned on Monday and reopened to staff and students on Tuesday.