I think knowledge of them would absolutely be a breach, because you wouldn't be able to guarantee that person didn't remember and subsequently misuse them.
There is no evidence any unauthorised party gained access to any private data as a result of this incident. There is no evidence that any authorised party misused data as a result of this incident. A “breach” that involves no unauthorised access, and no misuse is not a breach.
A control failure occurred, and it was remedied in the most appropriate way possible.