Byron Bay mayor claims COVID-19 case from Sydney inspected property while potentially infectious

The mayor of the Byron Shire says a COVID-positive man who travelled to the region while potentially infectious went to look for property and did not use QR codes to check in during his stay. 

There were long lines at a pop-up drive-through COVID testing site at the Cavanbah Sports Ground on Tuesday, after the region was sent into lockdown for at least one week.

Residents of Byron Shire, Richmond Valley, Tweed, Lismore, Kyogle and Ballina entered the snap lockdown from 6pm on Monday after the man in his 50s travelled there from Sydney at the end of July and subsequently tested positive. 

The lockdown will remain in place until at least 12.01am on Tuesday, 17 August.

Byron Shire Mayor Michael Lyon told SBS News the man left his COVID-positive wife at a Sydney hospital before travelling with his teenage children to the Byron area.

Mr Lyon said the man was in the community looking for property for four days while potentially infectious.

He said the man did not use QR codes, making the task for contact tracers more difficult. 

Mr Lyon said he was "disappointed".

“You half expect it in a pandemic, you know that these things can happen but when it's through sheer stupidity and negligence of someone involved, it just makes it really annoying and frustrating,” he told SBS News.

“So many peoples’ lives and livelihoods depend on this.”

The Sydney man is now at Lismore hospital.

An exemption to Greater Sydney’s lockdown rules allows people to travel outside the area to “inspect a potential new place of residence”.

It’s unclear whether the Sydney man relied on this to travel to the area.

Long lines at a drive-through testing pop-up in Byron on Tuesday morning.

Byron Shire Council

NSW Health has advised anyone in Byron Shire, Richmond Valley, Tweed, Lismore, Kyogle and Ballina to immediately isolate and have a COVID-19 test if they have even the mildest of COVID symptoms.

More than 80 per cent of the NSW population is in lockdown as the state struggles to curb the spread of the Delta variant  beyond Greater Sydney and into the regions. 

About 6,571,800 residents have been placed into lockdown.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant will be quizzed at a parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday about their handling of the latest COVID-19 outbreak.

With AAP. 

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