Public health officials and epidemiologists say the discovery of a new community case of coronavirus in Victoria is concerning and even the best-case scenario of the man having caught the virus working at a testing station poses significant challenges.
The traffic controller is believed to have worked at the Moonee Valley Racecourse drive-through testing site for two days while infectious, before becoming the ninth locally acquired case of coronavirus reported in the state on Wednesday. The other eight cases were all linked to known clusters and were in isolation for their entire infectious period.
The case emerged as organisers of this years Royal Melbourne Show announced they would be cancelling the event for the second consecutive year.
Epidemiologists say it will be critical to establish how the man picked up the infection, saying even if he acquired it at work from someone getting a COVID-19 test, there was the danger he could have passed it onto his workmates and others including those visiting the testing station.
Deakin University epidemiology chair Catherine Bennett said there was a more worrying possibility, albeit a smaller one, that the man picked up the virus in the community from someone yet to be discovered by authorities.
Unfortunately, both scenarios are not good, she said.
As authorities began to interview the man and investigate his case, state Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton called the development a concern.
We make no assumptions whatsoever. Obviously well look through to see whether anyone whos subsequently tested positive has gone through that testing site, but we have to do all of the investigations as to where he might have acquired it, he said.
However, Professor Sutton said the risk to people who had visited the testing site in their cars was extremely low.
