‘Youngest victim’ Nathan Turner did not have virus

The Queensland miner deemed to be Australia’s youngest COVID-19 fatality did not have the virus, the coroner says.

The extended family of Nathan Turner have been told further COVID-19 testing had come back negative.

The Queensland miner who was deemed to be Australia’s youngest COVID-19 fatality did not have the virus, the coroner has concluded.

The state’s Chief Medical Officer, Jeannette Young, who said last week she believed Nathan Turner had COVID-19 despite one of two tests being negative, said the coroner had found he did not have the virus.

“On May 27, a post-mortem test on a man from Blackwater returned positive for COVID-19 and his partner confirmed he had been unwell with flu-like symptoms for a number of weeks … The coroner tonight advised that further tests have returned negative for COVID-19. He is yet to determine the man’s cause of death,” Dr Young said.

The extended family of Mr Turner, 30, who was found unresponsive by his fiancee last Tuesday in the central Queensland town of Blackwater, was told on Monday that further testing had come back negative. Lorraine Devon, the mother of Mr Turner’s fiancee, Simone, said:

“They have told us there was no trace of the virus in his system. The autopsy has not been completed, and they can’t yet say how he died,” she said.

The coalminer, who had been having seizures and was on worker’s compensation since November, was found in an initial test after his death to be carrying the virus. Mr Turner had been showing symptoms of the virus for three weeks prior to his death, but had not been tested. His fiancee, who works in the local bakery and was sick last week, has tested negative.

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.

The first test was conducted closer to his death and was more reliable; while the second test was negative, it was contaminated with blood and was treated as being technically invalid, a government source told The Australian.

“We do not know if he died because of the virus but Queensland Health believes he died with the virus,’’ the source said.

At the time, Dr Young said the amount of blood in the second, negative test impacted its effectiveness and it was likely Mr Turner was positive.

The bakery where his fiancee worked posted on Facebook late on Monday, saying the autopsy had “cleared” him of the virus.

“We have just got word from our staff member / Nathan’s partner that his autopsy report has come in and Nathan has been CLEARED as COVID 19 NEGATIVE,” Fairbairn Bakery Emerald wrote on Facebook.

“Now his loved ones can be left in peace and Nathan can finally RIP.

“Our thoughts are with everyone who has been directly impacted by this whole ordeal, and the little community of Blackwater can now breathe easy.”

The health department has tested hundreds of residents in Blackwater, which had not had any prior COVID-19 cases, since Mr Turner’s death, and set up a clinic in the town.

Tests were also conducted on sewerage to determine any transmission in the community.

Among those tested were 20 people who had attended his birthday party last month.

Queensland Health has been investigating whether a Rockhampton nurse, who tested positive for the virus, was the source of Mr Turner’s infection.