Jeannette Young: ‘We can’t say we’ve dodged it yet, but I’m hopeful’

The CHO has revealed why it’s likely Queensland has so far dodged a full-blown Delta outbreak - linked to three “essential” workers from NSW - similar to that sparked by the Indooroopilly cluster.

It is “too early” to say if Queensland has dodged yet another coronavirus outbreak the chief health officer has said, despite the state nailing down the origin of the latest scare and recording no new cases on Sunday.

More than 1000 families in southeast Queensland have been forced to quarantine after a NSW man who travelled into the Sunshine State as an essential worker and spent two days here tested positive.

Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said it was still too early to say if Queensland had dodged another outbreak of coronavirus.

“If you remember in previous outbreaks, the school kids had a weekend while they were infectious and out in the community and that caused all of the issues,” she said.

“Whereas this time we’ve got to the school during the school week, so we’ve managed to quarantine those 1000 families.

“We can’t say we’ve dodged it yet, but I’m hopeful, I’m genuinely hopeful.”

Authorities confirmed on Sunday that the man, and two others from NSW, entered Queensland on “essential worker” passes — though their profession was not specified — with two of them since testing positive.

Jeannette Young. Picture: Annette Dew

One of the men stayed over at a home in Moorooka, infecting another man in that house who then spread it to his three children and their mother.

Dr Young said she was “confident” that’s how the virus came into Queensland this time, but said it was “good news” that the men had spent minimal time in the community.

One of the men had travelled down into the Gold Coast with Dr Young calling for people there to be vigilant and get tested if they detect symptoms.

Westfield Garden City is on the list of exposure sites for the current cluster. AAP Image/Richard Gosling

According to authorities the men had crossed the border with the appropriate paper work and while police are confident no rules have been broken, an investigation into the men remained ongoing.

Meanwhile, Dr Young confirmed a truck driver who spent September 7 and 8 in Queensland after entering from NSW had tested positive back in his home state and had been infectious while he was here.

Separately, authorities believe a Covid-19 positive miner who spent time in North Queensland was a “historical” case.

The man, who works in West Africa, had returned to Australia and undergone two weeks of quarantine in Sydney before heading to the Townsville-Charters Towers area.

He went back to Sydney on his way back to West Africa and tested positive before his departure.