Covid: Mt Morgan students visit Rookwood Weir site near Rockhampton where infectious woman worked for three days

Community reacts: “Some primary school parents, who hadn’t heard about the seniors’ visit to the Rookwood Weir site, put their children back in the car and went back home.”

Mount Morgan is readying itself for a Queensland Health announcement about what the community will face after its high school students visited a site where an infectious woman with COVID-19 was working.

On July 30, Rookwood Weir put up a Facebook post, saying it had hosted a group of Year 10 students from Mt Morgan State High School on a site tour and career development session.

News then reached Central Queensland on Sunday that a Covid-positive worker had worked at Rookwood Weir from the 28th to 30th of July, and contract tracing had begun to see who she came into contact with.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young said she was aware of the school visit but was unsure if there was any direct contact with the worker and the students.

Rookwood Weir posted on Facebook about Mt Morgan students' visit to the site the same day a worker infected with Covid was present

In response to concerns about transmission, Rookwood Weir on Monday said it was “working closely with Queensland Health to ensure they have the information they need to contact trace effectively”.

It said it had “implemented strict on site protocols to protect our employees and the Central Queensland community”.

People in the Mt Morgan community Monday morning said the news of the potential risk spread “like wildfire” among the high school community overnight.

The owner of Mumma Kath’s Kitchen estimated only one in 10 high school students went to school Monday morning, with the majority of parents choosing to keep them home “just in case”.

An IGA supermarket worker said there was a massive decline in the usual morning rush of students coming to buy food from the shop before school.

However, some parents who have children at Mt Morgan Primary School didn’t hear the news until they took their young ones to school Monday morning.

“There were parents standing out on the footpath talking about the likelihood of a lockdown,” said the cafe owner.

“Some primary school parents, who hadn’t heard about the seniors’ visit to the Rookwood Weir site, put their children back in the car and went back home.”

Members of the Mt Morgan retail community said they would wait for an official announcement although one of them said a lockdown was “on the cards”.

“Mt Morgan people are tough, they go through a lot,” she said.

“We’ll face this like we face everything else.”

“Frankly, I’d be more concerned for the number of people who were in the airport the day the worker who had Covid got on and off the plane in Rockhampton.

“It seems there would be a stronger chance someone had come into contact with her there than it being transmitted to one of our students.”