Contact tracers are working around the clock in an attempt to find the "missing link" between positive cases that attended a pub on Sydney's northern beaches.
Health authorities say three cases are now linked to The Belrose Hotel, which is located in the northern beaches southern zone.
But so far — other than the venue — no clear link has been found between any of the cases.
Here's what we know so far.
Who are the cases?
A 20-year-old worker at the Belrose Hotel came forward on December 23 for testing as a precaution, but serological testing revealed he may have been infected as early as December 10.
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said on that day the worker had displayed "a very transient illness associated with a very short period of fever".
"So basically [he] came home from work a bit tired and then went to bed, woke up with a bit of a fever. Took his temperature, [it] was a bit of fever, and then woke up the next morning and totally fine, no fever.
"So very transient illness at that time, but he's come back positive."
To complicate matters, another positive case attended the Belrose Hotel bottle shop on December 17. But Dr Chant said that case could not be linked to the worker, who was not on shift at that time and had never worked in the bottle shop.
Health authorities did contact tracing of Belrose Hotel workers around December 17 and those workers were all negative.
This mystery prompted Dr Chant to call for "upstream testing" on Saturday, which is basically trying to find any other positive cases who were at the Belrose Hotel earlier this month.
That testing revealed another positive case: a firefighter working for NSW Fire and Rescue in the Crows Nest area, who had attended the Belrose Hotel on December 11 for 1.5 hours.
Again, the 20-year-old wasn't working that day, so the link remains a mystery.
"So we're not looking at … the gentleman in his 20s infecting this firefighter," Dr Chant said.
Dr Chant said authorities were being careful not to assume there was "crossover" between the Belrose cases.
"It doesn't mean that they acquired the infection there."
Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of the firefighter who also lives in the northern end of the northern beaches zone, which is the main cluster hotspot.
At this point health authorities don't have any clear links to any venues in that area, so Dr Chant said they were focused on the Belrose Hotel and how that "may or may not have been involved in the transmission".
Why are authorities worried?
Health authorities fear that without clear links between the Belrose Hotel cases there could be undetected chains of transmission within the community.
And the big concern is cases spreading beyond the northern beach and Greater Sydney ahead of New Year's Eve and as people embark on holidays across the state.
They're also worried about a significant drop in the number of people being tested during the most recent recording period (over Boxing Day).
There were 23,933 tests carried out in the 24 hours to 8:00pm Saturday, compared with 39,133 for the previous reporting period.
The NSW Fire Brigades Employees Union said the firefighter's station had been deep cleaned and all firefighters he may have been in contact with have had coronavirus tests and had all come back negative.
But secretary Leighton Drury said firefighters were a key part of the state's emergency frontline and must be kept operational.
"We are the thin red line … we do not have enough professional firefighters in NSW so any strain on the system having firefighters off and having to self isolate, if it gets bad enough, it will obviously affect our operational response."
Stations at Beecroft on the Upper North Shore and Dee Why on the northern beaches have also been deep cleaned as a precaution due to the movement of staff.
Dr Chant called for people across the state to continue to get tested, even with the slightest of symptoms, to ensure cases weren't falling between the cracks.
"We may never find the exact source and the links but what's most important is we are not missing unrecognised chains of transmission in the community currently and that's why it is equally as important for everyone across the state to be getting tested for COVID."
She also called for people to continue know whether they were a casual or a close contact at affected venues.
So what is the testing advice around the Belrose Hotel?
NSW Health has upgraded its advice and is now asking anyone who was at the Belrose Hotel at any time in December and developed symptoms at any time in December to get a test and isolate until a negative result is received.
"Even if you historically had an illness that you think in retrospect might have been compatible with COVID, please get a test and please isolate until you get that negative test," Dr Chant said.
What other cases have unknown links?
Contact tracers are still working to find links between separate positive cases in Sydney's CBD and to the northern beaches cluster.
A man in his 40s tested positive after working in an office near Chifley Square and MLC buildings while infectious.
He joins another case who attended the Paragon Hotel's sports bar, about 500 metres down the road.
However Dr Chant said the two cases didn't seem to cross over at a particular point over venue.
Authorities are investigating a case in Bondi in Sydney's eastern suburbs which has no known connection to the northern beaches cluster.
They're trying to confirm whether the Bondi case may be a false-positive and are convening an expert panel to review all the data.
Dr Chant also flagged the case of a man who worked in the southern end of Manly but commutes to work to check for any overlap on any of his bus routes with other infectious cases.
Testing is also being conducted on his work colleagues to see whether any of them have been potential sources of infection.
Dr Chant also said a few locally acquired cases in the northern end of the Northern Beaches, around Avalon and Palm Beach, that may have visited some of the venues but not at the time and place of another positive case.
"That causes less concern because I know that there was likely to be some community unlinked transmission occurring in that northern end of the northern zone," she said.
Health authorities say all the infections in the northern beaches and CBD are similar in strain and originated from the first US-based strain introduced through the hotel quarantine process.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTEyLTI3L25zdy1jb3ZpZC0xOS1hdXRob3JpdGllcy1zZWFyY2gtZm9yLW1pc3NpbmctYmVscm9zZS1ob3RlbC1saW5rcy8xMzAxNjQ5MNIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMzAxNjQ5MA?oc=5
2020-12-27 05:43:00Z
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