The Deputy Premier says Young does not look set to return to lockdown based on detection of the virus that causes COVID-19 in the sewage.
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Indeed, he understands the detection can be explained even though there are no known cases in the community.
"I'm not lowering the threshold to bring a community back into lockdown on a sewage surveillance," he said on Tuesday.
"There was sewage surveillance in Young but at this stage from local intel (it is) explainable.
"There was a work crew from Dubbo in the area, they are isolating outside the LGA so it's possible that that sewage surveillance has picked up those that were coming through."
Only three days after restrictions were eased for residents, the Yass Valley Council area is back in lockdown for at least two weeks following a positive COVID-19 case.
Fragments of the virus were detected in the LGA in the Southern Tablelands over the weekend, and NSW Health confirmed a positive case and an update to the health directions late on Monday afternoon.
Mr Barilaro reiterated that sewage surveillance was a good indicator of the presence of COVID-19, but still believed the trigger for reintroducing lockdown should be detection of a case.
"Maybe going forward we need to look at a very nuanced approach as we get closer to 70 per cent double vaccination - if we actually do put a whole LGA into lockdown or whether we look at it postcode by postcode," he said.
"These are ideas that I'm thinking and working through and I'll have to get support from Health but fingers crossed that we don't have to put anyone else into lockdown."
