By Luke Voogt
A Rip Curl employee who tested positive for COVID-19 on July 7 after visiting its Torquay office has recovered, according to a company statement.
“The staff member … is feeling well, shows no symptoms of COVID-19 and has been cleared by the [Department] of Health and [Human] Services (DHHS) to return to normal life,” the surf company said on Tuesday.
“Likewise the six staff who came into direct contact with the positive staffer on Tuesday, June 30, have all tested negative to the two [COVID-19] tests mandated by DHHS, and no symptoms have been experienced.
“They will resume work from home duties today.”
Rip Curl’s Torquay outlets were continuing to operate as normal, the company said.
Rip Curl said in a statement last Wednesday that the office staff member had not worked in its retail stores or warehouse in recent weeks, prior to testing positive.
The employee had been working from home and, more recently, living in Melbourne, the company said.
They last visited the Torquay office for a meeting on Tuesday, June 30, while asymptomatic, and observed social-distancing measures, Rip Curl said.
Their symptoms developed 48 hours after they left Torquay, the company said.
The company said it had informed the DHHS and deep cleaning of its Torquay office had commenced.
The Surf Coast Shire recorded one new case last week, bringing the municipality’s active cases to one, as of midnight last Tuesday, July 7, according to the department.
The case, the first in the Surf Coast since April 10, brought the shire’s total since the pandemic began to 10.
Both a Rip Curl spokesperson and a department spokesperson declined confirm if the additional Surf Coast case and the case at Rip Curl were the same person.
They also declined to state if the Rip Curl case was classified as a Melbourne or Surf Coast postcode.
While both spokespeople confirmed the person travelled from Melbourne to the meeting, they declined to confirm if the person’s primary residence was located in Melbourne.
“There are strict procedures in place to protect the public wherever someone tests positive to coronavirus,” the department spokesperson said.
