The Tathra Hotel has announced it will close its doors for a short time after a teenager on a family holiday from Victoria tested positive for COVID-19.
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The teen arrived in Merimbula on Saturday, visited the Tathra Hotel on Sunday and went into quarantine on Monday.
They were not from a known hotspot and the family was initially advised, before going on holidays, that their COVID test was negative, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said at a conference on Wednesday morning.
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"But then when they arrived in NSW they were advised that was an error and the test was positive," she said.
She said the family had visited Tathra Hotel, with 80 other patrons who were in the hotel being contacted by NSW Health.
"Pleasingly, the Tathra Hotel did have a COVID safety plan and the risk to other patrons has been assessed as very low," she said.
In a post to its social media page the hotel's owners said that NSW Health had been more than happy with the way the hotel has been dealing with the restrictions and had advised that they did not need to close.
"However, all the staff that were working on Sunday need to get tested and are not allowed back at the hotel until they have a negative test result," the hotel's owners said.
"So the hotel is closed due to a staff shortage rather than any health orders."
The owners said they would be following all instructions from NSW Health in regard to cleaning and sanitisation, "as we have been since reopening".
"We hope that all our staff and customers who get tested are given a clean bill of health.
"It is very disappointing to have to close again (the fourth time since we completed stage 1 of the renovations) but hopefully it will only be for a short time," they posted.
A spokesman for Southern NSW Local Health District has said that contact tracing is underway.
"The whole family did the right thing and were tested prior to leaving (Victoria) and were told they were OK to leave," the spokesman said.
"When they arrived in NSW they were told there was an error in the testing and that the teenager had tested positive," the spokesman added.
"They then went into quarantine. They are not from a known hotspot. Follow up testing is continuing."
"The Public Health Unit is in constant contact with the family and contact tracing is taking place," the spokesman said.
