A second Melbourne Black Lives Matter protester has tested positive for COVID-19
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15.06.2020

A second Melbourne Black Lives Matter protester has tested positive for COVID-19

Photo by Kon Karampelas
Words by Kate Streader

The two cases are not linked, according to the Chief Health Officer.

Less than a week after Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton announced a man had tested positive for COVID-19 after attending Melbourne’s Black Lives Matter protest on Saturday June 6, a second protester has been diagnosed with coronavirus. The Chief Health Officer said the new case is unrelated to the previously announced case and is one of 12 new cases recorded in Victoria overnight.

“The second Black Lives Matter protester [is] unrelated to the first as far as we can tell, very unlikely to have acquired it there, wore personal protective equipment, has really been minimally symptomatic so also unlikely to have transmitted to anyone there,” said the CHO. “But I think because we prompted everyone who’s attended the protest with any symptoms, no matter how mild, to come forward for testing, this individual has been identified as a positive case.”

“It might have been acquired at a number of other places that this individual has been to during their potential period of acquiring the illness, but the message is the same, anyone who’s attended that, indeed anyone across Victoria who develops symptoms compatible with coronavirus, should come forward for testing,” added Sutton.

Police have fined three of the organisers of Melbourne’s Black Lives Matter protest $1,652 each for breaching social distancing restrictions. Anyone looking to donate to the rally organisers can do so below.

Visit the VDHHS website for more information about testing.

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