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Nathan Turner was thought to be the youngest victim in Australia to die from coronavirus, but he was tested after his death and returned a negative result.
Nathan Turner was thought to be the youngest victim in Australia to die from coronavirus, but he was tested after his death and returned a negative result. Photograph: Facebook
Nathan Turner was thought to be the youngest victim in Australia to die from coronavirus, but he was tested after his death and returned a negative result. Photograph: Facebook

Queensland man thought to be youngest Australian to die of Covid-19 returns negative test

This article is more than 4 years old

Queensland Health confirms 30-year-old Nathan Turner, who had serious health issues, did not die of coronavirus but actual cause is still unknown

Residents of a Queensland mining town are demanding answers after man thought to be Australia’s youngest Covid-19 victim tested negative to the virus after his death.

Nathan Turner’s death last week had baffled authorities and placed residents in his central Queensland town of Blackwater on notice after an initial coronavirus test following his death returned a positive result.

But a workmate of Turner’s fiancee on Monday revealed a second test conducted after his death came back negative.

“We have just got word from our staff member Nathan’s partner that his autopsy report has come in and Nathan has been CLEARED as COVID 19 NEGATIVE,” Kelly Bunyoung posted on Facebook.

“Blackwater can now rest easy.”

Queensland Health later confirmed the negative test.

“The coroner tonight advised that further tests have returned negative for Covid-19. He is yet to determine the man’s cause of death,” the state’s chief health office Jeannette Young said in a statement.

The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has apologised to Turner’s family.

“You know I really want to say to the family that we’re incredibly sorry that that has happened ... To the family I know that is still grieving and I don’t want them to be stressed anymore, I know it is a very tough time for them but we do know that the coroner made that finding yesterday and we accept that finding.”

But she says she stands by the government’s actions in Blackwater.

“It’s a whole new virus, and we have to take the health advice at the time. If we don’t act and it ends up being worse than we would be negligent for not acting, so I really thank the community for the understanding and once again.”

However, a petition with nearly four thousand signatures has been started by a family friend demanding a “national apology and a written letter to Nathan Turners family and fiancé Simone Devon” from the premier and chief health officer.

“Your leadership created emotional, mental and physical trauma to the loved ones of Nathan’s family & friends and especially to his fiancé Simone who endured so much more pain than anyone else. Nathan’s passing was used as tool to create chaos and panic to a community, state and a country,” wrote Nicole Muller who started the petition.

Turner, 30, had serious underlying health issues before experiencing coronavirus symptoms in the weeks before he died and was not tested while alive.

As Turner had not worked for six months or left the mining town since February, authorities were unsure how he contracted the virus.

Hundreds of Blackwater locals were tested and Queensland Health even had the town’s sewage tested to try and determine the source of his Covid-19 infection.

His death also led to an unnamed nurse, who has been suspended after she continued to show up for work at a Rockhampton nursing home, being the subject of an investigation into the source of the supposed infection. She took a sightseeing road trip to Blackwater during the lockdown.

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