Contact-tracing by Queensland Health has led to the discovery of five cases in different areas of the state, each linked to the party at Noosa, although the department will not say how or when those people came to be infected.

When Brisbane businessman Glen Wright hosted more than 80 guests at Sails Restaurant on March 14, the self-quarantine arrangements for overseas travellers had yet to be imposed. That is how a guest who had returned from the United States came to unwittingly infect others, including four staff, demonstrating the risks of close contact in a pandemic.

By the following Monday, when returning overseas travellers were ordered to keep away from others for 14 days, the party guests were already returning to their homes across the state and beyond. News of the positive diagnoses started to spread – and, as it turns out, the virus was still spreading too.

On April 14, InQueensland asked the health department for an update on the cluster and was told that of the 23 confirmed cases linked to Sails Restaurant, 11 people had recovered. The number of cases was consistent with earlier reports.

However, by April 21 the total number of cases linked to Sails Restaurant had risen to 28, with the department only able to say that contact-tracing had continued. On Thursday, the cluster was still at 28, among a Queensland-wide total of 1,026.

It remains the biggest cluster in Queensland so far in the pandemic, separate to the controversial Ruby Princess cruise ship outbreak, and has its origin in the US virus hotspot of Aspen.

An unknown number of Australians have this year returned from ski holidays in Aspen with the disease, many of them corporate high-flyers. Just this week, controversy arose after it emerged billionaire Kerry Stokes and his wife were allowed to skip the now mandatory hotel quarantine after returning home from Colorado by private jet. It is believed they negotiated home quarantine on medical grounds.

The American continent is Australia’s third-largest source of cases acquired overseas, behind cruise ships (technically deemed to be “at-sea”) and Europe. More cases have come from the Americas than all Asian countries combined, despite COVID-19 originating in China.

It is still not known how many Australians were infected in Aspen. A local public health official told InQueensland they did not have adequate resources for testing let alone a detailed breakdown of confirmed cases by nationality.

The state of Colorado has a slightly larger population than Queensland but is experiencing an outbreak that is 10 times worse. With more than 10,000 cases so far in Colorado, there have been 508 deaths – Queensland has recorded six – and this week some 2,000 patients were being treated in hospital, compared to just 20 in Queensland.

Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles has attributed the state’s positive outcomes to the steps taken early to contain the spread of the virus through bans, travel restrictions and social-distancing, as well as a high rate of testing and public co-operation.

National Cabinet is today discussing modelling on the infection rate and whether, or when, bans might be lifted and restrictions eased. The health system continues to be bolstered in anticipation of an influx of cases.

With the Sails Restaurant cluster, anyone found to have been in close contact with confirmed cases was issued with a self-quarantine direction for 14 days. During that time, any symptoms of the coronavirus were expected to emerge, prompting a test for COVID-19.

Queensland Health declined to provide any further information, and has previously declined to provide the location of cases linked to the Sails cluster on privacy grounds, other than to say each case is being managed by the local Hospital and Health Service.

As of Thursday, Noosa council area, where Sails Restaurant is located, had only recorded 15 cases, of which 10 were directly acquired overseas and one interstate. The larger Sunshine Coast HHS had been managing 90 cases.

“Under National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System reporting requirements, cases are reported based on their residential address,” the department said.

“For example, a case reported previously in New South Wales in a Queensland resident is counted in the national figures as a Queensland case, and a case detected in the Sunshine Coast HHS region that is a Cairns HHS resident is counted as a Cairns case. This applies regardless of where the person was determined to have acquired the infection, was tested or was confirmed with COVID-19.”

Like other restaurants, Sails remains closed on the order of health authorities, and a spokesman could not be contacted today. On its Facebook page, which is well-supported by regular diners, the restaurant has urged the local community to “look for the silver lining!”

“Work is well underway at Sails, taking full advantage of this downtime! Full kitchen refurbishment, new furniture ordered, new super sail ceiling, new lighting and there is still more to come.  We can’t wait for you to see what we have been up to.”