Two aged care facilities in the Hunter are on high alert after two people with COVID-19 worked at the sites while infectious. Staff and residents at Edgeworth's Masonic Village and HammondCare at Waratah have since undergone "extensive" testing for the virus.

Frank Price, the chief executive of RFBI Hawkins Masonic Village at Edgeworth, said their positive staff member had last worked at the facility on Wednesday, August 4, while he is believed to have been infectious.

The worker had been partially vaccinated with Pfizer, and was due to have his second shot on Sunday.

"On Friday he started to feel unwell, on Saturday he had a COVID test, and on Monday he got the result that it was positive," Mr Price said. "His primary concern, when I called him, was that of his residents. He is so worried that he might have infected his residents."

The source of his infection is still under investigation.

Mr Price said of their 77 residents, all but six were vaccinated, and about 62 may have been exposed. All had been tested for COVID-19, but - frustratingly - they were "still waiting on results".

HammondCare chief Mike Baird said their staff member who had tested positive for COVID-19 had worked in two of the Waratah facility's cottages while infectious.

"Of the 17 residents in those two cottages, three are not fully vaccinated," he said. "All have tested negative in tests conducted to date."

Staff deemed close contacts had been "stood down" to isolate at home for 14 days.

With local case numbers continuing to climb, it is unlikely the region's lockdown will end later this week.

Of the 13 new cases announced in the Hunter on Tuesday, 12 had been in the community while infectious.

Hunter New England has revealed it has learned "belatedly", that members of the party group from Blacksmiths Beach and a Wallsend-Shortland "gathering" had also attended three of the Hunter's busiest licensed venues in Newcastle on July 30.

Anyone at the Great Northern Hotel from 7 to 8pm on Friday, July 30, is a "casual contact" and must get tested and isolate until they receive a negative test result.

The same advice applies to anyone at Babylon bar in King Street on the same evening from 8.05 to 8.30pm and patrons at the Cambridge Hotel from 8.45pm to 3am that night.

The affected aged care facilities in this latest COVID scare were feeling the pinch with the number of staff in isolation.

"We have had 33 of our staff go into isolation for 14 days - all have been tested, and seven have received negative results. We are just waiting on the other 26," he said. "We have managed to pull together a workforce from our other locations, and another facility. But when you lose 33 of your workers - that's a real challenge."

IN THE NEWS:

The Newcastle Herald understands the COVID-positive staff member at the Waratah facility had not yet been vaccinated for the virus.

But all workers were expected to have had their first shot by early September.

Officially, there have been 39 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Hunter New England since August 5. Although more are expected to be announced on Wednesday.

"We do not want COVID-19 to get into our vulnerable communities," Hunter New England Health's public health physician, Dr David Durrheim, said. "It is really worrying that of the 13 new cases, only one was not infectious out in the community.

"We need to do better. Make sure we stop the virus from spreading."

Meanwhile, anyone who caught the 269 bus from Booragul to Warners Bay at about 10.15am on August 3, 4 and 5 is considered a "close contact" of a COVID-19 case and should get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days.

The positive case caught the bus from the intersection of First Street and Fourth Street, Booragul, at 10.15am, 10.18am and 10.16am on the three days, and left the bus after about 12 minutes each day at John Street, Warners Bay.

Barber Industries, at Westfield Kotara, has also been listed as an exposure site, with people there from 1.30pm to 2pm on Thursday, August 5, considered a close contact.

People there at this time must get tested and isolate for 14 days since they were there, regardless of the result.

Central Leagues Club at Charlestown was closed for deep cleaning on Tuesday after receiving advice that a positive COVID-19 case had been at the venue on August 2,3 and 4.

The club announced on Facebook that it would be closed until further notice.

People who attended the venue between 12pm and 5pm on Monday, August 2; between 5.30pm and 9.20pm on Tuesday, August 3; and between 4.40pm and 8.45pm on Wednesday, August 4 are considered "close contacts".

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: