More SA Pathology staff to be recruited to advise of COVID-19 test results
Extra staff will be recruited to call people with their COVID-19 test results after an IT glitch caused a delay in people receiving the outcome of their tests.
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An extra 20 staff will be recruited by SA Pathology to advise people of their COVID-19 test results after an IT glitch caused delays in sending out alerts.
Health Minister Stephen Wade this morning said that the additional staff will come on-board in the coming days, bringing the total number of personnel tasked with calling people with test results to 40.
“One of the responses of SA Pathology has been to recruit additional staff to make outward calls...particularly to deal with people who are missing out because of the glitch, they will be contacted by outward callers,” he told ABC Radio.
“I think it’s also important to remember the context. SA Pathology's’s testing load has more than doubled over the past two weeks.
“South Australians have stepped up marvellously and the laboratories were handling about 2500 a day and its now gone up to around 6000 a day.”
Opposition health spokesman Chris Picton also weighed in.
“This is extremely concerning that we have people who are now being dissuaded because of the length of time getting these results,” he told ABC Radio.
“And while it’s good that 20 people are now being put on, at the end of last year the Government actually cut 100 staff from SA Pathology so those 100 staff would have been particularly helpful now in contacting people and making sure people can get their results.”
It came after an IT glitch resulted in people who tested negative on their first test not receiving an SMS alert to advice of the outcome of their later tests.
Mr Wade yesterday said the issue had been fixed.
SA Pathology now has laboratory test processing time down to around 17 hours, not including transport or time taken for the sample to get into the system.
However, a huge surge in demand in recent days which has seen record testing and long queues at clinics and drive-through stations has put pressure on resources.
One man who arrived from Victoria shortly before the border shut was due to finish isolation at 6pm on Monday.
“I had a negative result on my first test but did not hear back about my day 12 test and really had to hunt around to get an answer or I would not have been sure if I could finally go outside,” he said.
“A friend of mine waited six days for a test result.
“There are thousands finishing their isolation early this week and if there are delays, they won’t know if they can finish iso if they don’t have confirmation of a negative result with their day 12 test.”
South Australia yesterday recorded another day with no new COVID-19 cases as concern grows about delays in getting test results and thousands of people who rushed to beat the Victoria border closure come out of isolation.
There have been a total of 459 cases reported in SA. There are eight active cases, 447 people have been cleared and there have been four deaths.
More than 289,500 tests have been undertaken. All dedicated metropolitan COVID-19 clinics no longer require GP referral or a booking to attend.
A COVID-19 testing facility for interstate truck and train drivers opened on Monday at Port Augusta, at the Puma Port Augusta Truckstop, Lot 8, National Highway 1, open from 8am to
11pm, seven days a week, with no referrals or bookings required.
The good news of no new cases comes as people who rushed into South Australia to beat the border closure with Victoria are coming out of their 14-day self-isolation amid claims some still waiting for their day 12 test results will be mingling with the public.
While such arrivals must get a test on arrival and also on day 12, online information states “Once you have self-quarantined for 14 days and are symptom-free, you no longer need to self-quarantine.
“You do not need to get a medical clearance certificate to return to work, school or childcare.”
Following the July 24 announcement of the hard border closure with Victoria until it came into effect on July 29, arrivals into South Australia jumped by about 13,000 — these include arrivals from all destinations, not just Victoria.
Man who flew – then drove – into SA arrested
A man who exhausted all attempts to enter South Australia from Victoria has been arrested and will face court later on Monday.
The 45-year-old Tasmanian man was found to have flown to Adelaide from Melbourne on Sunday only to be turned around at the airport, because he hadn’t filed out a cross border form. He was sent back to Victoria about 3pm Sunday
Police say the man then jumped into his Hyundai and drove to the Bordertown checkpoint on the Dukes Highway, where he was again refused entry.
The man allegedly then drove off towards Adelaide, and was followed a short distance until he was stopped on the Dukes Highway.
The man was arrested and charged with failing to comply with a direction under the Emergency Management Act.
He was refused bail to appear in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court on Monday afternoon.
It follows a series of creative border breaches, including a driver who blackened his number plates and sped through the Oodla Wirra checkpoint on the wrong side of the road on July 24.
Benjamin Michael Priori, 30, of Elizabeth Downs, was charged with reckless driving and obscuring a number plate among other offences.
Police say the man was a non-essential traveller who returned to SA from NSW and was meant to be in quarantine at Elizabeth Park.
He was refused police bail to reappear in Adelaide Magistrates Court later this month.
On the same day, Shannon Muscat, 39, snuck around the border at the Yamba checkpoint as he needed to start a new job that week.
He was found by police about 4.45pm sleeping in his car in Renmark West. Police checks revealed he had been refused entry about 2.30am the same day at the Yamba checkpoint. He was arrested and charged with failing to comply with a direction.
Muscat was refused police bail to reappear in Berri Magistrates Court on August 11.
And on Monday, August 3, police arrested a man for flouting coronavirus restrictions eight times – including crossing the border after being twice refused entry.
The arrest came on the same day that a record six people appeared before the courts accused of illegally crossing the border or breaching quarantine.
In one case, a “dog lover” who was refused entry at the Pinnaroo border checkpoint, only to drive five hours north and sneak across the Broken Hill crossing, was given a 13-day suspended jail sentence.
The most breaches were those of the 31-year-old Wingfield man, who is accused of flouting the Emergency Management Act eight times. He allegedly tried to cross the Pinnaroo border checkpoint twice within half an hour on Sunday, August 2, only to be refused both times.