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It took just 24 hours of panic from a false positive COVID case to send a devastating ripple effect through a south-west Queensland community.
A week ago, a truck driver who stopped in St George in the Balonne Shire returned a positive COVID test.
It turned out to be a false positive, but for Pelican's Rest Caravan Park owner Sheryn Blundstone the damage had been done.
"I personally lost 53 cabin room nights between August and September through this incident," Ms Blundstone said.
"In addition to the cancellations, I had about nine caravans just pack up and leave the park and just shoot through because they didn't want to be here.
False alarm
Mayor Samantha O'Toole said she understood the false-positive result came from a rapid test taken at Wilcannia in New South Wales.
Queensland Health did three subsequent tests, including serology, which came back negative.
Cr O'Toole said the false alarm had "smashed" the region's tourism operators.
"We've seen hundreds of cancellations … people were obviously a little bit nervous about coming out," she said.
Supplied: Sheryn Blundstone
)Ms Blundstone says the shire's business community is still suffering as visitors divert their trips elsewhere.
"It certainly impacted on us and in addition to that, the businesses, the town just went dead quiet," she said.
Wade Cameron, the owner of Kamarook Tourist park, also in St George, said It was a major blow to the industry reliant on the peak winter-spring period to get through the summer.
"A couple more have cancelled since," Mr Cameron said.
"It's not just St George though, it's the whole area impacted."
Wild rollercoaster ride
Cr O'Toole said false-positive cases were rare but almost unavoidable.
"We were on a wild roller coaster ride when that announcement was first made, and it is a concern that this may happen from time to time when we get these false positives," she said.
"But that's why it is important that these tests are followed up and further testing is done."
ABC Southern Qld: Jon Daly
)Test results
A spokesperson from NSW Health says its pathology laboratories maintained high standards of quality control at all stages of testing and a quality assurance program is in place to review performance and diagnostic accuracy of tests.
Professor Ivo Mueller from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research said rapid tests occasionally produced false-positive results.
"They detect a molecule that is a protein that's made from the from the virus, and then they're using an antibody to detect that and sometimes you get full reactivity."
He said polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were much more accurate.
"False positives in PCR are actually really, really rare because the PCR technology is very specific, and it only really gave a positive signal when it detects DNA," Professor Mueller said.
Getty Images: Patrick Daxenbichler
)He said a false positive was of less concern to authorities than a false negative.
"If somebody has a negative rapid test and then actually turns out to be positive then that person could carry the virus and spread it."
Professor Mueller says despite the volumes of tests being processed in NSW the system is holding up well.
"I think it's amazing what NSW has been doing, they've been doing hundreds of thousands of tests a day, now consistently over a long period of time," he said.
Push for school holiday tourism
Cr O'Toole hopes tourists will return to the region in time for the September school holidays.
Ms Blundstone says there is still a lot to see and do in the region despite the pandemic.
"We need to promote that our destination has a lot to offer, that the businesses in St George with the border closures and the COVID scare has impacted on our town," she said.