High demand for COVID tests after Queensland health authorities raise concerns over weekend slump
COVID testing clinics across Brisbane, Logan and Ipswich have been slammed this afternoon after Queensland health authorities raised serious concerns over the lack of people getting tested in the wake of a new cluster of cases.
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Traffic has been banked up for hours across the westside of Brisbane as hospitals and COVID testing centres are slammed by demand.
It comes after lower than expected coronavirus testing throughout Queensland at the weekend is worrying health authorities as the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre cluster continues to grow.
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With fewer than 7000 tests performed in the past 24 hours, Health Minister Steven Miles said it was not enough to “be assured that we are finding all of the cases that are out there”.
He called on Queenslanders who may have been tested earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, and found to be negative, to get tested again if they developed new symptoms.
At Kenmore today, police were called to deal with a traffic jam on Brookfield Rd as people tried to get into the drive through testing centre at the Village Shopping Centre carpark.
At Taringa traffic was banked up 100m on Moggill Rd but patients were waiting more than 15 minutes just to get into the carpark at a pathology testing centre.
Indooroopilly mum Elisabeth Freudigmann said she was advised by her GP to come in for a test after developing a cold and sore throat on Sunday.
“I’ve also had sinus and congestion,” she said.
“My doctor told me to get a test and wear a mask. I was expecting a queue so I’m not surprised but I thought they would have more testing centres in place.”
bout half a dozen masked staff from the pathology lab and the adjacent Taringa medical centre were in the carpark processing people as they waited in their cars.
The medical centre said queues formed as soon as the pathology lab testing centre opened at 11am.
“This always happens when there has been a local case. People are telling us they can’t send their kids to daycare or can’t return to work unless they’re tested,” a spokeswoman said.
“It’s not just here, it’s right across Brisbane at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, PA Hospital and other hospitals. They’re all fully booked.”
Bellbowrie resident Marlene Marks said she had no symptoms but had visited Indooroopilly shopping centre at the same time as two infected people.
She could not get a Telehealth appointment but drove to the Kenmore village shopping centre testing centre after her GP said there was no waiting.
“I’ve done this for my own peace of mind CC and because it’s the right thing to do by others,” she said.
A testing supervisor at Kenmore said the queues started as soon as they opened at 7am. The Kenmore drive through closes at 3pm.
“I knew there would be demand, just not this much,” she said.
LNP Member for Moggill Christian Rowan, a medical doctor who has been volunteering on the frontline during lockdown, said the biggest queues were at the Kenmore drive-through.
A federal government funded testing centre a few hundred metres away had no queues as it had a pre-booking system.
Dr Rowan said he had written to the state Health Minister requesting there be more testing capacity added to meet demand.
Mr Miles earlier said: “We know a lot of people, particularly in Logan and the southern suburbs of Brisbane and Ipswich got tested in the last cluster and they might think they don’t need to do it again but if they have any symptom at all, I would really urge them to come forward.
“Please do get tested again for your own sake but also to help us assure ourselves that we are finding every case associated with this cluster.”
The outbreak linked to the youth detention centre at Wacol grew by one on Monday, taking the number of cases in the cluster so far to 10, including five staff members and five of their relatives.
“Clearly, the fact that we’re confirming just one case today and they were already in quarantine is a relief,” Mr Miles said. “But there is a long to go in managing this cluster.”
Public health alerts have been issued for dozens of locations across Greater Brisbane and Ipswich where people involved in the cluster visited while potentially infec tious.
Suburbs affected include Carindale, Camp Hill, Marsden, Forest Lake, Browns Plains, Greenbank, Mt Gravatt, Carina Heights, Slacks Creek, Indooroopilly, Greenslopes, Crestmead, Sherwood, Brassall and Birkdale.
More than 100,000 people living in the affected areas received text messages on the weekend asking them to come forward for testing if they developed any symptoms.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said it was crucial for health authorities to track where the virus had been to limit the spread.
“We need to act quickly, promptly to be able to contain it,” she said.
Dr Young has asked hospitals in the region to use masks on all patients, visitors and staff “as a precaution”.
For locations of fever clinics: https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/stay-informed/testing-and-fever-clinics#testing-centre-map
