Covid-infected teenager who sparked snap lockdown in regional NSW pleads with online trolls in emotional TikTok video - as she reveals how she REALLY shut down her home town
The Covid-positive teenager who triggered a snap lockdown in regional NSW has revealed how she unknowingly brought the virus to her hometown - saying she had visited for a legal holiday and had no idea she was infected.
Shannon Dockerty has previously apologised for making the nearly 300km journey from Newcastle to Tamworth on August 4 while she was infected with the virus.
The teenager visited several Tamworth venues, including a cafe, restaurant and a vape store on August 5 before the Hunter lockdown took effect.
Following the announcement, Ms Dockerty returned to Newcastle, where she is at university, and got a precautionary Covid-19 test, only to receive a shock positive result the following night.
@shan_dockerty Just a reminder that we¿re all human and that person you¿re abusing has received many nasty messages & has feelings #newcastle #covidpositive #bekind
¿ original sound - Shannon Dockerty
Just a reminder that we¿re all human and that person you¿re abusing has received many nasty messages & has feelings #newcastle #covidpositive #bekind
¿ original sound - Shannon DockertyJust a reminder that we¿re all human and that person you¿re abusing has received many nasty messages & has feelings #newcastle #covidpositive #bekind
Ms Dockerty has been forced to make an impassioned plea to her online abusers to stop sending her hate, after Tamworth entered a week-long lockdown on Monday
The teen made the nearly 300km journey from Newcastle to Tamworth on August 4 while she was unknowingly infectious (pictured, locked down Tamworth)
The teenager has been forced to make an impassioned plea to her online abusers to stop sending her hate messages, after Tamworth entered a week-long lockdown on Monday.
The venues she visited in the regional city have since been declared exposure sites, however no new Covid cases were recorded in the area on Wednesday.
Ms Dockerty, who is now isolating in accommodation away from her on-campus unit, has taken to TikTok to remind online trolls she didn't break any rules.
'Just a reminder that we’re all human and that person you're abusing has received many nasty messages and has feelings,' she captioned the video.
'Ayo, that Newcastle girl who tested positive after travelling out of Newcastle while following the rules and is now getting hate speech,' the teen says in the TikTok.
The TikTok, which has over 200,000 views, garnered a mixed response from other users who took to the comments to share their thoughts.
The teenager has previously apologised for making the nearly 300km journey from Newcastle to Tamworth on August 4 while she was unknowingly infectious
The teenager visited several Tamworth venues, including a cafe, restaurant and a vape store on August 5 before the Hunter lockdown took effect (pictured, the Golden Guitar in Tamworth)
Newcastle teenager Shannon Dockerty has hit back at online trolls who have falsely accused her of leaving Newcastle after the snap seven-day lockdown was announced
'People are losing their jobs over lockdowns! I lost $300 of my pay this week due to it,' one woman wrote.
'In all seriousness, you can get a crisis payment,' Ms Dockerty responded.
'She obviously wants attention! She let the whole of Tamworth know it was her and now she's on here telling everyone. Don't give her the satisfaction,' another said.
'Actually I was silent before people started dragging my name through the dust so now we're just owning it,' the teenager responded.
Others falsely accused the teenager of leaving Newcastle during stay-at-home orders and questioned if she had isolated between getting tested and receiving her result.
Other users were more forgiving of the teenager and thanked her for getting tested.
The teen was sitting in the Tudor Hotel in Tamworth , now considered a close contact site, last Thursday when she heard the news that Newcastle would enter lockdown at 5pm
Following the announcement, Ms Dockerty returned to Newcastle that afternoon and got tested for Covid-19, only to receive a positive test the following night
'She went on a legal holiday to visit her family and left the minute she knew Newcastle was going into lockdown,' one woman wrote.
Tamworth exposure sites list
Anyone who visited the below venues has been urged to get Covid-19 tested and isolate for 14 days regardless of results:
- Inland Cafe, 407 Peel Street, between 9.15am to 10am, August 5.
- Tudor Hotel, 327 Peel Street, between 11am to 11.40am, August 5.
Residents who have visited the below venues must get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result:
- Gloria Jeans Coffee, 1/369 Peel Street, 9.15am to 9.20am, August 5
- Super Vape Store, 2/411 Peel Street, 10.55am to 11.05am, August 5
- Ampol Roadhouse Tamworth, 502 Goonoo Goonoo Road, 12.25pm to 12.30pm, August 5
Source: NSW Health
'I am sorry you are dealing with all these bullies. Stay strong and get better soon,' another commented.
Ms Dockerty uploaded a post to Facebook on Tuesday which detailed her every move from when she left Newcastle last Wednesday to the moment she received her positive result on Friday evening.
'THE REAL STORY. If one more person comes for me saying I did the wrong thing after reading this, I will be lead to believe that you are truly stupid,' she wrote.
The teenager explained that when she had left Newcastle there had been talk of Covid fragments in sewerage but no government directive to enter lockdown.
She said it was only when she was sitting at the Tudor Hotel in Tamworth, now considered a close contact site, that she heard the news in the 11am presser.
In her Covid update on Monday, Ms Berejiklian announced Newcastle would enter a week-long lockdown from 5pm, after new cases were recorded in the area.
The premier added that interstate travel would remain restricted until Greater Sydney had got the Indian Delta outbreak under control.
'We knew the three of us visiting were going to have to cut our trip short and go home to lockdown,' she wrote.
'I suggest we get tested – “just for the peace of mind”. We could never have imagined that I’d already been exposed and had caught Covid.'
A woman who claimed to be Ms Dockerty's aunt defended her niece in the comments and questioned if her online trolls 'could have done better'.
NSW recorded a further 344 locally-acquired cases on Wednesday and the deaths of two men aged in their 30s and 90s (pictured, a testing facility in Merrylands)
Premier Gladys Berejiklian ordered Dubbo into a snap week-long lockdown from 1pm on Wednesday after two cases were found in the region (pictured, testing clinic in western Sydney)
'If you have read this and you believe she could possibly have done better with the knowledge she had, or that you yourself would have done better, you are seriously deficient in grey matter,' she wrote.
'Reading some of the comments here I'm so glad I live a very long way from a few of you, I'd hate to bump into you in the street.'
NSW recorded a further 344 locally-acquired cases on Wednesday and the deaths of two men aged in their 30s and 90s.
Ms Berejiklian has also ordered Dubbo into a snap week-long lockdown from 1pm on Wednesday after two cases were found in the regional town.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said the cases were a young child and a woman in her 40s.
It comes as the outback town of Walgett was also plunged into a snap seven-day lockdown from 7pm on Wednesday night after a local man tested positive to coronavirus.
The outback town of Walgett was also plunged into a snap seven-day lockdown from 7pm on Wednesday night after a local man tested positive to coronavirus
Residents in the Walgett Shire will be subject to the same restrictions as those in Greater Sydney, Dubbo, Tamworth, and other parts of the state (pictured, a shopper in Tamworth)
The remote community in the state's northwest, 230km east of Bourke, will join large swathes of the state already under strict stay-at-home orders.
A local man who recently spent time in Dubbo and Bathurst during his infectious period returned a positive test result to Covid-19 on Wednesday.
The restrictions will apply to residents in the eight LGAs of Bogan, Bourke, Brewarrina, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Narromine, Walgett and Warren.
Residents of the eight affected LGAs will be subject to the same restrictions as those in Greater Sydney, Dubbo, Tamworth, and other parts of the state.
Health officials found 14 new cases in the Hunter-New England area, with Ms Berejiklian warning the continuing spread of cases meant it was unlikely eight LGAs in the region would be released from lockdown on time later this week.
'The Hunter doesn't look like it will come out of lockdown later this week - however we will wait on health advice,' she said.
No new cases though were found in the Armidale, Tamworth or Northern Rivers areas of northern NSW - sparking hope those LGAs could soon be released from lockdown.
Health officials found 14 new cases in the Hunter-New England area, with Ms Berejiklian warning the continuing spread of cases meant it was unlikely eight LGAs in the region would be released from lockdown on time later this week (pictured, shoppers in Tamworth)
No new cases though were found in the Armidale, Tamworth or Northern Rivers areas of northern NSW - sparking hope those LGAs could soon be released from lockdown (pictured, patrons checking-in at a restaurant in Newcastle)
The announcement came after it emerged a Covid-19 loophole allowed an infected Sydney father-of-two to travel 750km to Byron Bay, forcing more than 300,000 people into a week-long lockdown.
Zoran Radovanovic, 52, from Rose Bay in Sydney's eastern suburbs, has been identified as the man who travelled from the city last month to inspect a property in the northern NSW town.
NSW public health orders allow locked-down Sydney residents an exemption to travel if they are 'inspecting a potential new place of residence'.
The Rose Bay man allegedly repeatedly refused to cooperate with the state's contact tracers and was charged with breaching public health orders.
With major concerns the man, who later checked himself into Lismore Base Hospital may have spread the virus undetected across the region, the Byron Shire, Richmond Valley, Lismore and Ballina Shire Local Government Areas were all sent into lockdown from 6pm August 9 until August 17.