Coronavirus Australia live updates: Father of man thought to be Australia's 'youngest victim' speaks out
The father of the 30-year-old miner who was believed to be Australia's youngest coronavirus victim has spoken out about the mistake.
Nathan Turner died last week in Blackwater, a town almost 200 km west of Rockhampton.
An initial post-mortem test returned a positive result for COVID-19, though a coroner’s report later revealed he was not infected with the disease.
“After further blood tests and lung tests conducted in the autopsy process so far, they can tell us that they have not found any evidence that Nathan died from or with COVID-19,” Turner’s father, Rodney, said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Mr Turner said he completely understood the actions taken by Queensland Health. “As a matter of public interest they had to take precautionary action based on the evidence they had before them,” he said.
“What I don’t understand is how a false positive came about in the first place,” he added.
Mr Turner also criticised media and “social media experts” for “making assumptions about how COVID-19 came to Nathan’s home town of Blackwater”.
“I understand that the potential risk of a communicable disease required immediate action from QLD Health and the public needed to be informed. But now, that risk has passed – or more to the point, never existed in the first place,” he said.
“We are not looking for public sympathy; just to set the record straight. This is no longer a story of public concern. It is now time to leave Nathan’s fiancé, his family and friends, alone to grieve in private.”
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-australia-live-updates/live-coverage/dcd2b406621c1a1f7b1292e5a12ca179
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