Thirteen days ago, two cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District.
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One of those was in the Edward River local government area, where enough cases had emerged over the course of the previous fortnight to earn the label "cluster". The other was in Albury.
COVID-19 has since exploded in the Border city.
It has recorded almost 300 more cases and two people have died as the virus ravages the community, spreading through schools, infiltrating an aged care home. It hasn't even been two weeks.
Every outbreak begins with a single case. And as Albury has so proven, time is of the essence.
Wagga, whether by pure luck, good management or divine intervention, has so far been spared the worst of the virus.
In other news
The largest inland city in the state is - thankfully - yet to see for itself the reality of COVID-19 running rampant locally. Dubbo, Newcastle, Albury, Orange, Tamworth and Bathurst know it all too well.
On Sunday, the MLHD revealed there was a COVID-positive person in Wagga. And that was it.
A second case emerged yesterday. Still no disclosure of exposure sites.
Yet screenshots from people's Service NSW check-in app indicate there are at least half-a-dozen venues of concern in Wagga.
Too bad if you forgot to check in, or worse, used a pen and paper.
The MLHD, NSW Health and Service NSW have not been forthcoming with a more detailed list despite multiple requests from this masthead.
The decision to very quietly just slip a "you may have been exposed" note onto a check-in made a week ago is not in the community's best interest.
Wagga deserves the same detail that has been afforded to every other community over the course of the pandemic.
No doubt the information needed to feed the Service NSW check-in app is sitting in a spreadsheet somewhere.
After all this time, the silence is deafening. Let's hope it doesn't also prove dangerous.
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