Residents are being reminded to stay home if feeling unwell, to isolate if needed and be tested should they show any symptoms of COVID-19 as health authorities continued to work this week on stopping community transmissions.
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As the Examiner went to print on Tuesday, there was seven people confirmed to be part of the "known family cluster in Port Stephens" while in the wider Hunter New England Health District there were eight cases.
The Port Stephens family cluster includes a man in his 60s (the first case announced on July 21), a man in his 30s, two children aged under 10 and 2 (announced July 23), a woman in her 30s and a woman in her 60s (announced July 29) and a second man aged his 60s (announced July 30). All are in isolation.
Meanwhile, a group of under-9 Nelson Bay AFL players told to isolate for 14 days after coming into contact with the 10 year old with COVID on July 19 have received messages of support from GWS Giants AFL captain Stephen Coniglio and senior Marlins players in their final days of isolation.
While the number of confirmed cases appeared to plateau in the first days of August, the COVID situation during the past two weeks has forced some Port businesses to temporarily close or revert to a limited contact arrangement.
On August 1, Imagine Cruises made the decision to cancel all cruises for one week. Meanwhile Moonshadow-TQC Cruises is declining bookings from Greater Sydney LGAs and not accepting any from Victoria until "further notice".
Imagine Cruises boss Frank Future said that the business, which began cruises at half-capacity on June 1 after a nine-week shutdown, had made the difficult decision for the greater good.
"It would be catastrophic if we became the home of a cluster," he said.
Mr Future, who is also treasurer for Port Stephens Tourism, said the July holidays had been "gangbusters" for the business but "in the absence of state government leadership I guess we've just got to make our own decisions".
With roughly 60 per cent of his patrons coming from Sydney, Mr Future said it had become too difficult for staff to wade through postcodes to identify who was from hot spots.
As debate continued about making face masks mandatory in public, Woolworths customers are being "strongly encouraged" to wear face coverings when visiting NSW stores including Big W, BWS and Dan Murphys.
