Idyll threat: virus loose on Sydney’s northern beaches

The idyll on Sydney’s northern beaches ended abruptly when a super-spreader created a flourishing cluster within the Avalon RSL.

Residents of Sydney’s northern beaches queue at a COVID testing centre in Avalon on Thursday. Picture: Tim Hunter.

For months, Sydney’s northern beaches have managed to preserve themselves as an isle of pristine shorelines, secluded celebrity boltholes and — quite enviably — a glittering region that has gone without the slightest trace of the loathsome coronavirus.

So extensive was this virus-free streak that even the state’s sewerage surveillance program could not identify COVID-19 last week during testing of wastewater systems coursing beneath its burbs and villages.

This idyll ended abruptly on Wednesday when, according to health officials, a super-spreader contracted the virus and created a flourishing cluster of cases within the Avalon RSL, one of the region’s most lively centres of community hobnobbing.

Working backwards ever since, teams of contact tracers have fanned minute by minute through the histories of attendees at the venue, identifying a cluster now amounting to 17 infections. And the number is growing.

According to one government official, the last time the area saw infections run anywhere close to that figure was during March, after the Ruby Princess docked in Sydney.

In other words, a lifetime ago.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard took drastic steps on Thursday, requesting extraordinary lockdown-style action to take effect across the Northern Beaches Local Government Area.

The request, which is voluntary for residents, will see more than a dozen suburbs placed under the most restrictive conditions since April, applying to more than 250,000 people. It will last until Sunday unless extended.

Kirsten Seale, a 27-year-old PhD student holidaying in Sydney from Melbourne, said her fear was the potential for a formalised lockdown that could shut the borders again, preventing her from going home.

“The border is definitely on my mind,” Ms Seale said. “I’ve only just come out of lockdown in Victoria and the prospect of a second one is quite stressful.”

Mr Hazzard said health authorities were trying to minimise any further transmission and help NSW health tracers establish the source of the transmission.

“We’re imploring residents of the beaches not to travel outside the area if they can avoid it, and not go out to restaurants and cafes unless you really have to,” Mr Hazzard said. “We need some time to sort out what is going on.”

The fine detail of the request goes further: residents should stay indoors and work from home as much as possible, avoid “unnecessary gatherings” and outdoor activities, and stay within the region’s boundaries, which starts at the Spit Bridge near Mosman and spreads far north to Palm Beach. Officials have, similarly, requested that anyone living outside the Northern Beaches LGA avoid visiting the area.

On Thursday authorities were working double time to identify not only the cause of the virus and its source, but the true extent of its rate of infection through the community. Pop-up testing facilities were established in suburbs including Avalon, Newport and Frenchs Forest, all of which were soon inundated.

“There’s a lot of anxiety in the air,” said David Gander, a 51-year-old surfer who stood in line at an Avalon testing site, where queues of people busied themselves with newspapers, books and their mobile phones. Some used umbrellas to shield themselves from the baking heat while nursing staff provided masks and sunscreen.

With the outbreak’s origin thus far a mystery, senior health officials are operating on the working theory that an international traveller brought the virus into Sydney. How this occurred remains unclear; so too is whether the person is the same superspreader who attended the Avalon RSL club last Friday.

Equally concerning is the lag effect of the virus, and the possibility that asymptomatic patients spread it beyond the borders of the northern peninsula. One confirmed case identified on Thursday involved a musician who played with his band at the Kirribilli Club on Sydney’s north shore, then the Penrith RSL club in Sydney’s west the following day. The man, a drummer in his 60s, resides in Frenchs Forest and plays with an outfit called Nothing Too Serious, an official said.

Kirsten Seale, right, and Laura Taylor at North Avalon beach on Thursday. Picture: Adam Yip

Residents living in both locations have been asked to remain on high alert for any symptoms. Those who attended either venue on the days the band performed have also been told to seek testing.

A second case has since emerged of an Education Department employee who attended the Media City building in the inner-city suburb of Eveleigh, forcing an extensive clean out and partial shutdown of the site.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said genomic testing had been expedited to establish whether the virus identified at the Avalon RSL matched any strains collected from incoming passenger arrivals.

Dr Chant said officials had worked through the night while couriers shuttled test results between various pathology labs.

“Our working hypothesis is that someone at the RSL club was potentially the source of infection for a number of subsequent cases,” Dr Chant said. “We need to find the source of the infection.”

All avenues of inquiry were under examination, she added, including the less likely possibility that incoming travellers exempted from hotel quarantine arrangements might have flouted isolation rules.

Dr Chant said positive links had been established between some cases. An aged care worker from the Pittwater Palms Retirement Village had “crossed over” with another woman at the Avalon RSL club, she said, allowing the infections to be linked.

A spokesman for Aveo Group, the company that operates the Pittwater Palms Retirement ­Village, said residents had been ­informed of developments and staff were working closely with them and their families to ensure they were “supported during this time”.

As a result of the infection, several nursing homes in the region were directed to cease family visits until the strain had been identified and brought under control.

“The health and wellbeing of our residents and staff is our number one priority,” they said.