There are fears a second wave of coronavirus infections could hit northern New South Wales after police broke up an illegal bush doof over the weekend.
More than 1,000 people were suspected of partying at the private property near Byron Bay, which is just a touch larger than the 20-person at one person's home limit. There were no on-the-spot fines handed out to people at the doof, however police broke up the soiree and told everyone to go home.
What's more disappointing is that very few people were reportedly wearing personal protective gear like a face mask to prevent the possible spread of the coronavirus.
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A video uploaded to Instagram showed this was no small house party setup as there was a well-built DJ stage, decorations, lasers and lights and a hell of a lot of party goers.
Detective Chief Inspector Matt Kehoe said: "It is very disappointing. You can still have a good, smaller party, but certainly don't go to the extremes that we've seen in the last few days."
The bush doof at the private property on Wilson's Creek was one of a few events that have plagued police in the region recently.
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Tweed Heads Police wrote on Facebook: "Over the past week Police in the Tweed Byron District have responded to numerous calls to large house parties in recent days including parties of 200+ at Byron Bay and 1000+ at Wilsons Creek.
"The public is reminded that existing Health Minister's COVID-19 restrictions limit visitors to the home to 20 people. Substantial fines may be issued if offences are detected."
Organisers of these big parties can cop massive fines and individuals could be forced to pay up to $11,000 or six months in jail if they breach the Public Health Act.
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Northern NSW Local Health District head Wayne Jones now worries that a second wave of coronavirus cases could be on the way following the massive parties.
It's been nearly 70 days since the region had a new coronavirus case and a second outbreak would be devastating.
"[We have] an amazing level of concern that people believe that they can congregate to 1,000 people and disregard physical distancing and put at risk not only themselves, but the entire community of the North Coast," he said.
"We were absolutely dumbfounded. We would certainly have to invest a huge amount of resources to try and do the contact tracing, and I'm fairly confident there wouldn't be a register of attendees available or contact phone numbers."