The Bright nursing home COVID-19 case is a vital reminder coronavirus is here and residents and visitors should not be complacent about social distancing, the Indigo mayor says.
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Jenny O'Connor said like Bright, Beechworth had experienced a huge surge in visitation recently which was great for businesses but posed dangers.
"The outbreak in the nursing home in Bright is really concerning," she said.
"That facility would have had the strictest regulations in place, if a case can occur in a place like that it shows you how how transmissible this disease can be."
Yesterday, the Victoria health department confirmed no news cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Victoria on Monday.
But it is unlikely further tests from Bright would have been processed that quickly.
Cr O'Connor said the region openly welcomed visitors, but needed them to be responsible.
"There's been a big increase in visitation since restrictions relaxed," she said.
"It's a double-edged sword. On the one hand we can't stay locked down forever and it's great to see people visit the region and support our businesses that were absolutely crippled throughout the fire season and then with COVID.
"But the risk is people not maintain social distancing, especially when there's big numbers it's quite difficult.
"We are seeing people forgetting or not able to social distance... it's disappointing, well it's more than disappointing, it's very, very concerning."
Tourism North East's chief executive Bess Nolan-Cook said being able to welcome visitors back to the region was great, but everyone had a responsibility to adhere to social distancing.
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She said if an outbreak occurred the state could go back into lock down, further hurting regional businesses.
"We've had a terrible start to 2020 from an economic perspective, we were smashed by bushfires and as we were in the process of recovering COVID-19 hit," she said. "Whilst we're thrilled to welcome visitors back we're encouraging everyone to make sure they plan ahead, stay safe by observing physical distancing regulations."
Indigo Shire has so far avoided any COVID-19 cases.
Cr O'Connor said businesses had all the right policies in place but it was hard to enforce social distancing.
The qualified nurse wants visitors to come to the region, but said it only takes one possibly asymptomatic person not obeying social distancing to cause a major outbreak.
"Every outbreak started with one infection," she said.
"There was one infection in Wuhan, one infection in Spain, one infection in Italy. It just takes one infection and it takes off. Once it takes off we can't stop it."
Digital journalists with The Border Mail.
Digital journalists with The Border Mail.
