Camp infection fears swirl around Foster

A COVID-19 outbreak, affecting two Melbourne-based primary school groups, which attended the PGL Camp Rumbug at Foster recently, has reportedly spread to the local community.

According to South Gippsland Shire Councillor Scott Rae, a farmer at Foster North near Rumbug, he has spoken to a household contact of a staff member from the camp who tested positive during the past week.

“He hasn’t been there so it’s household transmission for sure,” Cr Rae said.

“He told me he’s doing fine, which is good to hear, but it’s out there, definitely. Probably going to be everywhere before we’re finished,” he said.

“My concern is that there’s no contact tracing or exposure site information going out anymore.

“I was nearly going to visit someone locally who turned out to be a close contact. Lucky I ddn’t.

“Look, there’s no shame in getting COVID. I imagine a lot of us will get it eventually, but I think there should be some notification when there’s increased risk locally.”

Cr Rae said it was his understanding that a number of staff members from the camp had since tested positive and were isolating at home.

“There were also reports of teachers and staff from the two schools coming down into town for coffees and the like, so there would have to be an increased risk locally.”

The city media reported on the outbreak emanating from the South Gippsland camp over the weekend.

“Dozens of Victorian families have been forced to cancel Christmas after their children caught Covid at a school camp which is now under investigation,” the Herald Sun said on Sunday, claiming the outbreak had so far affected 47 people.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said the two schools “who attended the camp in question at the end of this term did not share cabins, bathrooms, meeting rooms or structured activities. Kitchen and dining facilities were used at different times”.

It was also reported that no students displayed symptoms at the time of leaving the camp.

COVID-19 update

There’s no sign of a COVID spike in South Gippsland in Sunday’s coronavirus data from the Victorian Health Department.

It was reported that South Gippsland has 25 active cases, one new case reported on Sunday, and Bass Coast 55 active cases, 4 new.

Across Gippsland there were 364 active cases; Bass Coast 55/4, Baw Baw 158/19, East Gippsland 23/0, Latrobe 72/4, South Gippsland 25/1 and Wellington 31/5.

It was reported on Sunday, December 19 that there were 1240 new cases of COVID-19 in Victoria after 76,033, and a total of 13,093 active cases. There were 392 in hospital (81 in ICU).