Townsville LNP Senator Susan McDonald tests positive for coronavirus

Townsville-based LNP Senator Susan McDonald has tested positive for coronavirus, becoming the second confirmed case in Townsville. She attended a number of events in recent days.

A TOWNSVILLE-based senator has tested positive for coronavirus.

LNP Senator Susan McDonald confirmed on Monday she had tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the second officially confirmed case of the virus in Townsville and the second Australian politician to contract it. But how she got it remains unknown.

Senator McDonald did not attend the inaugural NRL match at the Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Friday night, where crowds swelled to more than 22,000, because she was feeling unwell with a “sore throat and a mild temperature”.

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Senator Susan McDonald

She was tested at Townsville University Hospital that night before heading into self-isolation immediately, but her movements in the 48 hours prior included attendance at meetings.

It is understood the senator has had no direct contact with Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who confirmed on Friday that he had contracted the virus, but she had met with people who had met Mr Dutton in recent days.

A spokesman for the senator confirmed that she had not been overseas in the past two weeks and had been in Townsville from Monday, March 9, after being in Canberra the week before.

She spoke at Townsville Enterprise’s North Queensland Agribusiness Futures Forum, held at The Ville Resort and Casino, which was attended by more than 130 agriculture representatives, on Thursday morning.

The Townsville Bulletin can confirm Senator McDonald was at an event on Thursday evening for an NRL State of Mind program, attended by former North Queensland Cowboys player Antonio Winterstein, where the pair posed in a photo together.

She also held a gathering at her office in the Townsville CBD, understood to have been attended by about a dozen people, most of them with LNP links, on Friday.

Herbert MP Phillip Thompson, the only other LNP federal politician based in Townsville, said he had not met with Senator McDonald in about four weeks.

World Health Organisation advice suggests that the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus from someone who isn’t showing any symptoms is very low.

Originally published as Townsville LNP Senator Susan McDonald tests positive for coronavirus