More than 200 NSW residents potentially crossed paths with positive Victorian coronavirus case

NSW health authorities have revealed the number of people who potentially crossed paths with a Victorian family that tested positive to coronavirus.

It’s feared more than 200 NSW residents crossed paths with a Victorian family that tested positive to coronavirus after returning south.

NSW Health contact tracers have contacted 243 people who were in the proximity of the family while they were on holiday on the NSW south coast late last month.

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said her staff were working with their Victorian counterparts to figure out the “timing of the onset” of the family’s disease.

Forty-one people were contacted after they were at the same campsite as the family, 18 were at two different Coles supermarkets the family visited, 55 could have crossed paths with them at Hyams Beach and 129 at a bakery in Goulburn.

Those people have been told to “stop and stay”, which means getting tested and awaiting advice from NSW Health.

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant praised state businesses for using QR codes. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Dr Chant said there was a chance the man’s family were not infectious when they were in NSW if he was the source.

But she warned, if that was not the case, the list of exposure sites would increase and could date back earlier than May 23.

“We’re working through that with our colleagues, and can I thank my colleagues in Victoria for the close interaction in working through these cases,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

Dr Chant praised the south coast venues for all using QR codes, and Ms Berejiklian also lauded the widespread use of the registration method in the state.

She compared it with the QR system in place in Victoria and said: “I don’t believe they’ve got a QR system that’s consistent across the state in Victoria, so that would make the job a bit more difficult in terms of contact tracing.”

“We’ve had our system in place for some time … so we have that level of confidence in NSW that we’re able to give our contact tracers that information.”

NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
One new overseas-acquired case was recorded in the same period, bringing the total number of
cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,399. pic.twitter.com/RXq5iFUX2G

— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 2, 2021

However, Ms Berejiklian said it wouldn’t be her place to criticise Victoria further for their coronavirus response.

Victoria announced on Wednesday it would extend a snap lockdown for another week.

“I’m not going to comment on what’s already a difficult situation,” Ms Berejiklian said when probed about whether NSW would have responded to a coronavirus outbreak in a similar way.

“Every state has managed the pandemic differently. It’s not for me to comment on what other states do, my focus is NSW.

“It’s a statement of fact that every state chose to deal with a pandemic in a different way.”

Victoria’s outbreak has grown to 60 cases amid fears the virus may have spread across the border to NSW.

The Melbourne man who visited the NSW south coast was potentially infectious when he went to several venues there.

His infection was one of six recorded by Victoria on Wednesday.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian weighed in on Victoria’s lockdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

His family, including his wife and two children, have also tested positive.

He was likely infectious on May 23 and 24 when he went to the sites in Jervis Bay, Hyams Beach, Vincentia and Goulburn before returning home.

The man developed symptoms on May 25 but did not get tested until six days later.

While speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Ms Berejiklian said she had no plans to change border measures with Victoria at this stage, though she expected people who had been in Victoria and were now in NSW to follow the health advice of the southern state.

She made the comments while at a press conference detailing that people aged in their 40s would be able to register their interest for the vaccine directly on the Service NSW app.

She said more than five million people across NSW are using the app.