Suffering the same fate as the touring England Test team, and South Australian middle order batter Travis Head, the GM has had players from almost all of its teams identified as household contacts.
England head coach Chris Silverwood, its pace bowling coach, spin mentor and conditioning specialist have all been forced into isolation until January 8.
For the Goulburn Murray’s junior contingent the stakes are not as high as the Ashes, but the once-a-year tournament is considered a high point of the season for the players.
In one instance a coach has been forced to sit out the tournament, along with two of the association’s premier junior players, who are household contacts.
None of the three will be involved in any of the matches, or the finals.
Goulburn Murray Cricket’s junior co-ordinator Marcus Maher said it was a situation that the organisers of the tournament had discussed last month during final preparation for the four-day event.
There are three preliminary rounds and the finals will all be played at Goulburn Murray venues on Thursday.
Even before a ball was bowled in the opening round there were several withdrawals, almost none of the seven teams involved in the tournament from the Goulburn Murray escaping the household contact ruling of seven days’ isolation
“We had a couple of under-17 boys had to pull out before the tournament because they were household contacts. Then another of the under-16 boys pulled out on Monday,’’ Maher said.
“We’ve probably had a couple in each team that have been affected.
“We were talking about this in late December. That’s why we have squads of 13 and 14.”
Maher said he was aware that Bendigo and Shepparton associations had also had players withdraw due to being household contacts.
"We are just abiding by the health regulations; if someone is a household contact they have to isolate at home,’’ he said.
Maher said team managers and helpers were on stand-by to fill any voids.
“It’s the way the carnival is going to be and the way life is going to be,” he said.
With a consistent increase in the amount of cases in the region there is an expectation that further cases will come to light, affecting not only the Junior Country Week carnival, but also other sports as they swing back into action from this coming weekend.
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