In Sydney West Hoxton party was the killer. In Melbourne it was the school.
No, Al Taqwa was only one of the transmission chains birthed from the Teacher and probably one of the better controlled ones
The real key was the traffic controller who was too lazy to walk to the staff toilets, and so went to the nearer toilets for people presenting for testing who could not hold on. He was linked to a person who had a positive test there.
He then continued on the outbreak which was found on 13 July by visiting Altona North and Footscray. He then infected his partner who lived in that area and had a number of exposure sites sprinkled in those suburbs.
Now there may also have been other possible transmission chains grumbling away, but it was then the teacher and her family who really kicked the outbreak along.
The teacher (Al Taqwa), her partner and one set of parents (not sure if it was his or hers)
were infectious for 8 to 10 days before being found. One of her exposure sites was 200m from the 7/11 that the traffic controller was at. Though he was at multiple other sites in the vicinity of the teacher, her husband and the parents..
No cases were initially found and it was thought by the Vic Gov that the transmission chains were broken apart from those in quarantine, and so the lockdown was ended. Whereas what had been occurring was that cases were busily growing. some may have been asymptomatic, but a number were symptomatic and who not only did not go and get tested, but went to work, socialise and played football.
By the time the teacher was found to be positive, she and her parents, and the parents had already infected people far and wide. Al Taqwa and 2 other schools, Caroline Springs SC, Newport Football Club etc.
In this outbreak at this time what also started to occur was the same as in the Vic Second Wave (or in NSW after it left Bondi and went westwards) it was in back in a demographic where households that tend to larger, are very interconnected
and who critically have many more people who do not present for testing when symptomatic (for all sorts of reasons), and who even if symptomatic still went about actively mixing and interreacting with people.
Exposures sites with up a week or more of infectious periods started to appear. And
So at Day 53 in Vic it has hit 1860 cases (2 different metro lockdowns and 2 regional lockdowns). Vic Second Wave (which had 3 distinct lockdown periods within it, the first being a limited LGA lockdown) at 53 days it was 3550 cases, and NSW (multiple lockdowns including LGA and more lately regional too) current wave 5181 cases.
www.news.com.au
