‘No alarm in this’: Mayor’s message to community

Follow up testing will occur on January 27 which Cr Williamson says will determine the next step.

Mackay Regional Council Mayor Greg Williamson said recent COVID fragments detected in South Mackay wastewater was nothing to be alarmed about. Picture: Zizi Averill

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson has spoken out to allay any fears over news coronavirus fragments were detected in South Mackay sewage.

"This is nothing to be concerned about, it's merely a marker that COVID has been here," Cr Williamson said.

Follow-up testing would occur on January 27 which Cr Williamson said would determine the next step.

"It's not an immediate indication there's COVID in the community," Cr Williamson said.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young is seen during a press conference to provide an update on the COVID-19 situation. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

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South Mackay was one of four sites where viral fragments were detected, as revealed by Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young earlier today.

It follows news that more fragments were found in Airlie Beach sewerage last week.

Cr Williamson echoed what Dr Young said in that these markers could be shed by someone who had recovered for months afterwards.

"There could be myriad explanations for it," he said, adding that whoever deposited the fragments in the Whitsundays last week might have been a tourist who later passed through Mackay.

"It could have been anyone travelling through the airport.

Dozens of cars line up at the drive-through COVID clinic at Mackay showgrounds on Sunday, January 3 2021.

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"The follow-up testing on January 27 will be an indicator of (if) something has just moved through our system … or if we find other traces it will give us the next clue on what we should be doing."

Cr Williamson said the "clear message out of this" was for anyone who felt unwell to get tested.

"If anyone is feeling at all unwell, has respiratory issues, sniffles, sore throat, you need to go and get assessed, you need to go and get tested," he said.

"But there's no alarm in this."

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