Hells bells: the MCG has been listed as an exposure site in Victoria after a man in his 30s attended day two of the Boxing Day test and later tested positive to coronavirus.
The man sat in Zone 5 of the Great Southern Stand between 12:30pm and 3:00pm on December 27, Victoria’s acting premier Jacinta Allan said. (Not sure where Zone 5 is? The MCG has details here.)
They also attended the Boxing Day sales at Chadstone Shopping Centre between 6am and 2pm, meaning a number of stores are now potential exposure sites.
Those stores are: Culture Kings, Huffer, JD Sports, Jay Jays, H&M, Uniqlo, Myer, Superdry, Footlocker and Dumplings Plus.
Anyone who attended those stores or sat in Zone 5 of the MCG is being urged to get tested today.
The MCG is being investigated as a potential source for acquisition.
This means we have a confirmed case of coronavirus who was not infectious but that we believe may have acquired their infection at this location.
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— Victorian Department of Health (@VicGovDH) January 5, 2021
Authorities do not know how this man was exposed to the virus, making it the state’s first mystery coronavirus case in months.
To be clear: authorities do not suspect the man was infectious when he attended the Boxing Day sales and the MCG, as he developed symptoms on December 30.
Rather, they are trying to trace where the man acquired the infection, which Victoria’s acting chief health officer Professor Allen Cheng said it most likely the man’s household contacts, who are already in isolation.
“To be honest, they are probably the household links and the people he visited are probably more likely to be links but we’re trying to be cautious,” Cheng said.
“We do have this information about Chadstone and the MCG. So we’re trying to get that information out to make sure that we’re not missing anything and we want to make sure that we’re not waiting for other testing to come back and acting on this information that we have now.”
The man also attended several venues on December 30th:
- Nike in South Melbourne, 12pm to 12.45pm
- Culture Kings on Russell St, Melbourne, 1pm to 1.30pm
- Tamarind 8 restaurant in Narre Warren, 6.30pm to 7pm
Anyone who visited the Nike store during that time must get tested and isolate for 14 days from the exposure, the Department of Health and Human Services website says.
Anyone who visited Tamarind and/or Culture Kings during those times must get tested and isolate until a negative result is received
