COVID alarm spreads among exclusive club members
The panic over the confirmed COVID-19 case at the Australian Club is being felt around the corner in another exclusive Sydney establishment, which is frequented by some noteworthy members, Annette Sharp reveals.
Confidential
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The panic over COVID-19 exposure emanating from the Australian Club, located in Macquarie St in the CBD, is presently being felt around the corner in Bent Street where the Union, University & Schools Club is headquartered.
That wordy and worthy club, known more affectionately to its members as the Union Club, shares a broad membership crossover with the Australian Club, which, as this column reported just a week ago, was visited on July 22 by paid-up member Cardinal George Pell and his good buddies Alan Jones and Tony Abbott.
That was five days before a coronavirus-positive staffer turned up for work for the dawn duties at the club on July 27.
While Pell, Sky broadcaster Jones and the former PM are apparently all in fine health, there remain concerns for those who attended the AGM at the Australian Club on Thursday night.
This was made plain in correspondence from The Union Club to its members — whose numbers include Wendy McCarthy and Imelda Roche — on Friday.
“We are very conscious of the significant crossover in memberships between our two clubs and therefore any UUSC members (or guests) who attended the Australian Club over the past week (including attendance at the Australian Club’s AGM last night) are not permitted to enter the UUSC for the next two weeks and are advised to be tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible,” club secretary Des Overend informed the club’s membership, which does, unlike the Australian Club, does, to its credit, permit women members.
The ripple of fear was also felt at Sydney’s most exclusive golf club, the Royal, home to some of the wealthiest “duffers” in the nation — and certainly in Sydney’s east — who have also been instructed, in blunt terms, to stay home.