The teenager whose movements resulted in the recent lockdown of Tamworth has pleaded for the thousands of daily abusive messages to stop.
Shannon Dockerty drove from Newcastle to Tamworth last Wednesday and visited several venues while unknowingly infectious the following day.
Following the announcement that the Hunter region was entering lockdown, Ms Dockerty returned to Newcastle that afternoon and got tested for COVID-19, only to receive a positive result the next night.
Tamworth then entered lockdown for a week, commencing on Monday at 5pm.
Individuals who visited the cafes, pub, and vape store at the same time as Ms Dockerty were told to get tested and isolate.
Since her isolation period started, Ms Dockerty says she has been receiving thousands of “nasty messages” each day.
In a TikTok video she shared on Tuesday, she was fighting back tears as she revealed she had been getting “hate speech” despite not breaking 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 clip.
Image: news.com.au
But, her plea was largely ignored, with hundreds arguing that her trip might not have broken the rules but was still unnecessary.
“Should’ve stayed home. No one’s going to give you sympathy,” one said.
“So you don’t want to get hate speech or comments? You should have stayed home and followed the rules like everyone else,” another wrote.
Others falsely accused her of leaving the Hunter region after lockdown had commenced, as well as not isolating while waiting for her COVID-19 test results.
To combat the false accusations, Ms Dockerty broke down her movements on Instagram, including details of her morning expedition with a friend on Thursday, after which she settled in at a pub where the 11am press conference was playing.
After hearing the Premier’s announcement that there had been new cases in Newcastle and that the area would be entering lockdown, Ms Dockerty and her friend went for a test straight away.
In just a few hours after the test, Ms Dockerty was travelling back to Newcastle to isolate.
With her only knowledge of cases in Newcastle being COVID-19 fragments being detected in sewerage, the last thing she expected was to receive a positive test result.
Ms Dockerty suspects she may have contracted the virus at a university beach party, but had been unaware of the potential infection as she didn’t start experiencing symptoms until after her test.
Ms Dockerty told news.com.au that she had developed “pretty rough” symptoms, and was “a bit sick of waking up to thousands of comments about whether I did the right or wrong thing when NSW Health have already commended my actions”.
Since Tamworth entered lockdown, the area, along with Armidale and the Northern Rivers, has reported no additional cases, which Premier Gladys Berejiklian said were “positive signs”.
Image: news.com.au
