Subsdance Dance Studio in Canberra raises money for community after briefly becoming COVID-19 hotspot

The appearance of Subsdance studio as a close contact site was a heavy blow for director Charlie Wan.

"I felt strangely defensive and guilty. I suddenly started questioning, oh no, like, what have I done wrong? We've been practicing really good measures the whole time, and yet it still happened," Ms Wan said.

The dance studio in Kingston was listed as a close contact site for two hours on August 10, leading to about 70 people quarantining according to Ms Wan.

Apart from the confirmed case, no-one else in attendance had tested positive, she said.

But in those early moments, seeing her studio listed alongside other close contact locations inspired fear "that this would be the end for my business".

"We all, when we see those exposure sites, because of the lack of communication or lack of understanding, you know, it does have a certain stigma to it," she said.

She was quickly moved to action by a sense of duty to her staff and patrons, as well as the infected person.

She sent out an alert to her mailing list with detailed information about the exposure listing and what people should do next.

Offers to help the infected person and others in the community hit hard by the quarantine quickly flooded in and Ms Wan set up a fund, which had climbed to more than $2000 by Tuesday.

The money has gone towards care packages, assembled and delivered with adherence to health advice, Ms Wan said. As well as to fundraise for those who had lost out on work.

"In these times when we feel so helpless, it feels good for people to go to help someone," she said.

Ms Wan is putting together a video resource detailing the steps she undertook after learning of the Covid case at her business.

She said ACT Health contacted her "three or four days after the exposure site was listed," and while she didn't feel she had been contacted quickly enough, she understood the delay.

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"Businesses and venues may experience a time lag between when the exposure sites are listed online and when they have been contacted by ACT Health and identified as a exposure location," an ACT Health spokesperson said.

"ACT Health is endeavouring to phone all businesses listed as close contact and casual contact exposure sites, however due to the large volume of exposure sites that have been identified in the ACT since the outbreak began, this may take some time," they said.

Businesses identified as a potential exposure location are required to follow the online resource: Guidance for cleaning venues with a confirmed or potential case of COVID-19.

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