Health officials say the removal of Nowra from the list of NSW COVID-19 hotspots should give people confidence in Australia's ability to manage COVID-19 outbreaks.
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"It is really heartening - it shows the message got through," Illawarra-Shoalhaven Health District Public Health Director Curtis Gregory said.
"We had a cluster of cases around South Nowra and Nowra prior to the more stringent social distancing measures being introduced."
Mr Gregory commended the community for adhering to social distancing restrictions.
He said that, in combination with "hundreds" of additional people presenting to be tested, gave the public health team confidence there was no community transmission.
"It's an excellent outcome, and community participation was key - everyone should be pleased with themselves. It's one of the first areas to be taken off and one of the quickest turnaround times," he said.
Mr Gregory said there were three different causes of COVID-19 cases. The majority of cases in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven area are people who have picked up the disease while travelling outside the country.
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The next most common are close contacts - family members, friends and workmates - of those who have been infected overseas.
The least common - but most worrying - are cases where it cannot be identified how the person was exposed to the virus.
"It's not unusual in a pandemic, but it does mean transmission happened in the community and the source of exposure can't be found," Mr Gregory said.
"We do multiple interviews with confirmed cases to build a profile of where they have been and who they have interacted with over the past two weeks, but it can be difficult for people to remember everything.
"We use that data to look for points of exposure, opportunities the virus may have had to jump from that person to other people.
"We can check for any points of crossover between confirmed cases and check those points to see if community transmission is likely. This is what we call contact tracing."
Once the public health team has identified close contacts of confirmed cases, they are isolated and tested if they become symptomatic. If they test positive to COVID-19 the contact tracing process is begun for them, and their close contacts are isolated.
This places a protective "bubble" around the outbreak.
When the South Nowra cluster was identified, 40-50 close contacts of confirmed cases were isolated.
The threshold for COVID-19 testing in the region was lowered, so anyone with symptoms was eligible for a test, regardless of whether they had close contact with a confirmed case or had traveled overseas.
"When the community responded to that and we got no additional confirmed cases that made us reasonably confident there was no community transmission - the bubble was effective," Mr Gregory said.
"This isn't to say we won't get cases in the future. It is a pandemic, and the numbers can bloom up again.
"But what's happened in South Nowra gives us confidence that if we continue to engage the community we can manage these outbreaks when they occur."
Mr Gregory thanked the community for their efforts, and encouraged everyone to continue practicing good hand hygiene and social distancing.
"If we look after ourselves we look after the most vulnerable members of the community," he said.
"And if you're sick, please don't go out. I know it's challenging, especially because of the long-term nature of these restrictions. But we know it works, because we've seen in work in South Nowra.
"If you have symptoms - even if they're mild - or an unexplained fever please go and get tested."
