Confirmed: 24 test positive for virus after Noosa function

Twenty-four people from across southeast Queensland who attended a 50th birthday party at upmarket Noosa restaurant Sails have tested positive for coronavirus, with another 126 people potentially exposed.

ABOUT 150 diners at Sails Restaurant in Noosa have potentially been exposed to COVID-19 after four staff members at the restaurant tested positive to the virus.

Sunshine Coast public health physician Roscoe Taylor said the Sails Restaurant staff were believed to have contracted the novel coronavirus as a result of a 50th birthday at the restaurant on March 14.

They then served other Sails Restaurant patrons on March 18 and March 19 before testing positive to COVID-19 themselves.

Guests in lockdown as swanky venue confirms COVID-19 cases

Dr Taylor said at least 20 people associated with the private birthday function, both in Queensland and interstate, had been confirmed as having the new coronavirus, with more cases expected. 

“The number of cases from the private birthday function is continuing to be assessed as new cases come to light who have actually travelled back to their home state or from other parts of Queensland,” Dr Taylor said.

“In the Sunshine Coast area, we have a small number of guests who were at the event, and also, these four staff. It’s a bit of a moving tally.”

Queensland Health has issued a public health alert to people who attended the restaurant between 4pm until 11.15pm on Wednesday, March 18, and from 3pm to 10pm on Thursday, March 19.

“We are advising those patrons to be mindful of the symptoms of coronavirus and to seek medical advice should they develop them,” Dr Taylor said.

He said about 60 people attended the restaurant on the Wednesday evening and another 90 the following night.

While the risk to those diners was “not zero”, Dr Taylor said “it’s probably very low”.

“Staff were practising very good hand hygiene to ensure that all the infection control practices that a restaurant can do were in place,” he said.

“The menus were paper disposable ones. There were no concerns either about the food handling hygiene.”

Dr Taylor said that at the time of the March 14 party, national restrictions on public gatherings were not yet in place.

Bans on indoor gatherings of 100 people or more were brought in late last week.

“They were following what they believed to be the advice at the time,” Dr Taylor said.

“At the time of the party, there were no restrictions for the mandatory two weeks’ isolation for certain travellers coming back from overseas and secondly, the national requirement regarding gatherings wasn’t in place.”

Dr Taylor said the Sunshine Coast had experienced “several sad instances” of COVID-19 cases being castigated on social media for “trying to do the right thing by telling people in the community that they’ve had the infection … in case there was a remote risk of having transmitted it”.

“Some of those people are experiencing significant repercussions and it’s something that I’m saddened by and I don’t think it’s very Australian,” he said. “I’d like to see people being supportive and not shaming the many cases in our community who are, in our experience, all observing the requests that we make of them for isolation.”

For more information, ring 13 HEALTH.

Originally published as Confirmed: 24 test positive for virus after Noosa function