Fell like dominoes: How ‘missing link’ sent 3.2m into lockdown

Three million people in lockdown, scores of schoolchildren caught in a Covid cluster crossfire. But a sliding doors moment may have saved Queensland from a worse Delta outbreak.

Queenslanders have been up-ended by the level of spread from the Indooroopilly Delta cluster but a sliding doors moment in a vaccine hub helped health authorities get a jump on the spread of the insidious, fast spreading strain.

The cluster has blown out to 89 cases, mostly kids, and 3.2 million people have been locked down but the quick thinking of a vaccine centre nurse last week allowed health authorities to get a head start on containing the outbreak.

A 17-year-old schoolgirl from Indooroopilly State School was at the vaccine centre with her mum who was getting tested and the medic suggested the teenager take the test too.

Both turned out to be positive as did all their household, including a young sibling who attends Ironside State School.

Ironside State School became an epicentre in the outbreak. Picture: Richard Walker

But how did a high school girl manage to pick up the Delta virus?

Authorities believe the virus ‘likely’ jumped from a returned traveller case being managed at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital to the girl.

Soon after, the student, the rest of her family, including a younger sister, and her tutor - a medical student - were infected.

The sister is a pupil at Ironside State School.

Suddenly schools across Brisbane were interlinked in the dangerous transmission.

The cluster quickly spread through schools. Cleaners inside Ironside State School, St Lucia. Picture: Zak Simmonds

A staff member at Ironside turned up positive and a fateful karate event at the school involved pupils from Brisbane Grammar which quickly turned into a major spreading event.

And so the web, keeping contact tracers up at night, began.

The state was propelled into unprecedented territory.

Schools kids and family households were involved — the level of contact sites was going to be enormous.

Kids are social, they mix with kids from other schools.

A young girl is being swabbed at a pop up Covid-19 testing clinic at Eight Miles Plains in Brisbane's south, as Queensland remains in lockdown due to a growing covid cluster. Picture: Dan Peled

Today, young people are caught up in a multitude of extra curricular activities, sporting events, choir practices, swimming lessons and they get public transport.

This was a game changer.

But the chain of transmission did not start with the girl and this is where the health authorities have been left scratching their heads.

The Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young reported that the cluster was linked to two cases of overseas travellers who arrived in Brisbane on June 29.

The exact link still remains a mystery as nothing is straight forward with this insidious disease.

Dr Young said she still “doesn’t know the direct link” but genome sequencing had confirmed the transmission had occurred from one of these two cases.

One of the travellers had come from the UK, and the other had flown from Indonesia, but both ended up on the same flight from Singapore to Brisbane.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young was forced to put southeast Queensland into lockdown. Picture: Dan Peled

The two travellers were taken to hotel quarantine at Rydges, where they later tested positive.

One man went to Sunshine Coast University Hospital and after treatment, went home to Buderim.

The other went to Gold Coast University Hospital and was given the green light to return home to Western Australia after treatment.

“I still don’t have the direct link from one of those two cases through to these new seven cases, but I know through whole genome sequencing that is where the transmission has occurred,” Dr Young said.

Dr Young said the most likely scenario was that an unknown person connected to the travellers had somehow infected the medical student or the girl.

It is known that the 17-year-old student and her tutor both have the exact same strain of the virus as the two returned travellers.

But a lot happens in a week when Delta is involved.

A woman crosses an empty Elizabeth street in central Brisbane during the lockdown. Photo: Dan Peled

This strain can be transmitted within seconds.

Dr Young thought Queensland could get on top of transmission and ordered a three day snap lockdown of 11 southeast Queensland local government areas last Saturday July 31 but was forced to extend it until Sunday August 8.

More than three million people in areas including Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast have been affected by the lockdown.

Several South East Queensland schools have been caught up in the spread.

Students at Indooroopilly State School, Ironside State School, and private schools Brisbane Boys Grammar, Brisbane Girls Grammar have all had students test positive.

St Aidan’s Anglican Girls School, St Peter’s Lutheran College and St Joseph’s Gregory Terrace have also been involved in the outbreak.

Brisbane Boys Grammar School and Brisbane Girls Grammar School were caught up in the outbreak. Picture David Clark

More than 8,500 school kids and their families are in quarantine after being identified as close contacts, including 400 health workers who have been pulled out of vital service.

The entire cardiac surgeon team at the children’s hospital were potentially exposed and forced into isolation.

One cardiac surgeon needed to be carefully brought out of isolation to perform emergency surgery on a newborn.

The state has never seen such Covid chaos but quick acting health leaders and Queenslanders working together to keep one step ahead of Delta has given hope that freedom may come on Sunday.

And Queenslanders offer a nod of gratitude to the vaccine hub nurse that helped us move fast.