Investigation starts into whether Rockhampton nurse is link to dead Blackwater man

The reason for a Rockhampton nurse’s 400km round trip to Blackwater while carrying the COVID-19 virus has been revealed, as authorities investigate whether she may have infected a 30-year-old resident who died last night.

AUTHORITIES are investigating whether a Rockhampton nurse who worked at an aged care home while unwell may be the source of infection for a 30-year-old miner who has died of COVID-19.

The Courier-Mail understands the nurse broke health orders when she drove to Blackwater for recreation before she was positively tested for the virus.

The almost 200km drive from Rockhampton to Blackwater is outside allowable travel distances and her trip was not for an essential purpose.

The nurse gave the information about her drive during an earlier interview with health authorities who had been undertaking contact tracing.

Keppel MP Brittany Lauga said the nurse had told contact tracers that she’d driven to Blackwater to see a sunset.

She said she wanted to see the woman fined for breaking travel restrictions for non-essential travel.

“It’s irresponsible. It’s against the law,” she said.

“It doesn’t make sense to anyone I’ve spoken to who lives in this region why you wouldn’t get out of the car, go to the loo or anything and we rely on people being honest with their contact tracing.”

Masked police officers direct traffic at Blackwater Hospital as an emergency fever clinic is set up following a 30-year-old man's death from coronavirus. Photo: Rachel McGhee

It’s not believed the nurse and miner knew each other, but authorities are still looking into potential connections.

The nurse, who was working as a receptionist at the North Rockhampton Nursing Centre, has already been publicly chastised by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for going to work with symptoms and after taking a COVID-19 test before the result was known.

Opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates questioned why the government had not warned people the infected nurse had travelled to Blackwater.

“The people of Blackwater had a right to know that a person infected with COVID had been in their town,” Ms Bates said.

“This should not have been kept secret.

“Instead of referring the nurse to the CCC, Labor should have informed the public and rolled out more testing to the impacted communities.

“The Palaszczuk Government need to start treating Queenslanders like adults.”

The distance between Rockhampton and Blackwater.

The man, who has been sick for around three weeks, had not worked since late last year because of a work injury, but his partner had been going to work while experiencing symptoms of COVID-19.

The man is understood to have worked at the Jellinbah mine, near Bluff, about 20km east of Blackwater, but had not been on site since November last year.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young was informed of his positive test for the novel coronavirus at 11pm last night.

If that result is confirmed, it will make him the youngest person to die with COVID-19 in Australia and the seventh death associated with the virus in Queensland.

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Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles and his Chief Medical Officer Dr Jeannette Young. Photo: Darren England, AAP.

All of the previous deaths of Queenslanders with COVID-19 have been in people aged in their 60s and older, but Dr Young stressed “it’s not a disease that’s exclusively of older people”.

“We do see young people die from respiratory diseases all the time,” she warned. “We know that we see it every winter with flu that we see younger people die. Age is not a total predictor of people who are going to do badly.”

Dr Young said the Blackwater man, who had a complicated medical history, had no recent history of travelling overseas. His death has been referred to the coroner.

“We don’t believe he had travelled outside of Blackwater since around February,” she said.

But given his health issues, contact tracers are expected to probe whether he had attended the Blackwater Multipurpose Health Service or a general practitioner in recent weeks.

“We believe he’s had symptoms for several weeks but that’s the information that needs to be confirmed,” Dr Young said.

The man’s partner found him non-responsive at home at about 4.30pm yesterday and called an ambulance. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Police and paramedics who attended the home have been placed in quarantine.

His partner, who has developed symptoms, is in isolation. She has tested negative for the novel coronavirus but will undergo further testing.

The woman is believed to be employed at a shop in Blackwater.

How her partner was infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is a mystery. He is the first known case of the disease in the town.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk extended her deepest condolences to the family and friends of the man.

She repeated calls for all Queenslanders who develop even mild respiratory symptoms, particularly those living in Blackwater to get tested for the virus.

Health Minister and Deputy Premier Steven Miles particularly pleaded with men to get tested if they were unwell.

“I know that men sometimes fob off their illnesses, they don’t go and get medical assistance but it’s incredibly important right now that anyone with symptoms goes and gets tested,” Mr Miles said.

“It appears that this gentleman who has passed away was ill for some time and did not get tested.”

Griffith University virologist Nigel McMillan warned Queenslanders to expect to keep seeing cases of the virus until an effective vaccine was developed.

“As long as we’ve got a hospital system that can deal with it, this is how we’re going to limp along for the next year or so or until whenever a vaccine comes along,” he said.

“There are cases around and we’ve just got to deal with them as they come up. The main issue is going to be if this starts popping up a lot more, we might go backwards in our controls and you can see the issues around industry kicking up about border controls. From an infectious disease point of view, border controls make complete sense.”

Central Highlands Mayor Kerry Hayes.

The young man’s death was both a tragedy and a shock for the regional community, according to Central Highlands Mayor Kerry Hayes.

The death follows a false positive coronavirus test in the Central Highlands in April, and according to the Mayor reinforces the need to remain cautious.

“We will be having to point to this very tragic situation, saying we just need to keep being vigilant,” he said.

The Courier-Mail understands that Central Highlands Regional Council has contacted major employers of FIFO workers to discuss protocols for “responding to outbreaks”.

Mr Hayes said the Region’s ‘large’ FIFO workforce was both “important” and “risky”.

A disaster coordination meeting was also called by the council this morning “to make sure the core members in our disaster management group are aware of the situation in Blackwater… and to make sure all our communities in the Central Highlands are resourced,” he said.

Cr Hayes said the council was working with Queensland Health and contract tracing would inform the council’s future actions.

“We will probably be a lot wiser after traceability and contact has been established around this young man.”

A fever clinic has been set up in Blackwater with testing scheduled to begin tomorrow.

Additional fever clinics are located in Emerald and Rockhampton.