New South Wales has recorded its fifth Delta outbreak-related COVID death after a woman in her 50s - reportedly the mother of twin removalists earlier charged with public health breaches after making a trip from suburban Wollongong to Molong - was found dead in her south-west Sydney home.
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Police in personal protective equipment converged on a home in Thursday Place at Green Valley on Monday morning after receiving a report of a concern for welfare.
According to NSW Health the deceased woman was a confirmed COVID-19 case, and was a close contact of a confirmed case.
Her 27-year-old sons and a third worker travelled 300km from West Hoxton to Molong on Friday, stopping at several locations in south-west regional NSW.
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The Illawarra Mercury understands the brothers had on Thursday collected the belongings of a Figtree couple who were moving to Molong for a tree change.
Police will allege the trio continued driving to Molong to finish their delivery despite one of them receiving a call from NSW Health earlier that morning, informing them they had tested positive for coronavirus.
Kim Stojanov, who runs Molong's Freemasons Hotel, said the Figtree couple unwittingly caught up in the health debacle remained in isolation in their new home.
"I know they were pretty scared on Friday, with what went down, and not knowing how our community would react," said Mrs Stojanov, who is also the mother of St George Illawarra Dragons player Cody Ramsey.
"They weren't aware of anything when health and police and everyone turned up at the house. "There's been a lot of reaction on social media. But we're a good community, we've opened our arms. With a few people we made a care package and the hotel did a voucher for them."
Mrs Stojanov said the the effect of the news had been "like a handbrake" on the town's movements.
"From Friday, when the news all broke, we have pretty much lost 90 per cent of trade," she said. "We're a farming town, so it's been quite scary for everyone. We've got a lot of residents very scared.
"We have lost a lot of tourism but in the end we know it's not their [the Figtree couple's] fault."
Mrs Stojanov said it fell to a real estate agent to warn a storage facilty involved in the move that the removalists may have accessed a touchscreen lock at their facility.
"[NSW] Health didn't tell them. The government has got to be clearer."
Ramsey was not among the 13 Dragons players to face fines and other penalties over their attendance at a lockdown-breaching barbecue at the since-sacked Paul Vaughan's Shellahrbour home earlier this month. Mrs Stojanov said she may have had a hand in keeping her son out of trouble.
"All I can say is that the $900 Playstation was the best investment I ever made. He's quite into it. And in Queensland they've got nothing else to do."
The now grieving brothers face fines of up to $11,000 each and a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro earlier yesterday described the mens' actions as "careless, reckless and deliberate" and warmed any transmission could "swamp" the health system in the Central West.