Coronavirus: Miner Nathan Turner ruled ‘negative’ could have had virus

A Queensland miner, whose post-mortem tests found no trace of COVID-19 in his body, could still have had the virus before his death.

Nathan Turner.

A Queensland miner, deemed Australia’s youngest COVID-19 fatality last week before a series of post-mortem tests found no trace in his body, could still have had the virus before his death.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Deputy Premier Steven Miles and Chief Health ­Officer Jeannette Young on Tuesday apologised to the family of Nathan Turner, 30, after last week announcing he had died of the virus.

The initial diagnoses prompted the health department to test more than 600 residents in Blackwater, central Queensland, where Mr Turner was found unresponsive by his fiancee at their home.

The mining town previously had no COVID-19 cases.

But on Monday, Dr Young said the coroner, who had taken over the case, concluded subsequent tests had returned negative results.

Dr Young said “false positive’’ results were extremely rare, ­although it had occurred with another miner in the region last month. She said further tests were being conducted, but that it may never be determined if Mr Turner had the virus before he died.

“There are two potential answers. One is that it was a false positive. The other is it was a true positive and we won’t know which it was,” Dr Young said. “But I am confident about the actions that were taken on that night to protect the community of Blackwater.”

A member of Mr Turner’s ­extended family said it may “take six months’’ before the cause of his death could be determined.

Last Wednesday, The Australian revealed there was some uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 tests on Mr Turner.

A test conducted about 9pm on Tuesday — several hours after his death — produced a positive reading for the virus, but a test three hours later came back negative.

Mr Turner had shown symptoms of the virus for three weeks prior to his death, but was not tested. His fiancee, Simone Devon, who works in the local bakery and was sick last week, tested negative.