NSW Covid: Testing queues blow out as Covid clinics shut
Long queues have returned to Sydney’s Covid testing sites, with Premier Dominic Perrottet stepping up the public awareness campaign to help stretched officials.
NSW
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Billboards and mobile phone alerts brandishing the state government’s new testing rules were rolled out last night under a major campaign to keep citizens away from swamped testing clinics.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Premier Dominic Perrottet was concerned about citizens standing in hours-long queues and made the request yesterday for awareness around the testing rules to be ramped up.
The Perrottet government has set up electronic traffic signs across the state informing people to only get a PCR test if they have Covid-19 symptoms or fit the extremely narrow national definition of a close contact.
Push notifications were also rolled out through the Service NSW app last night drilling in the message.
“Important information: You do not need a PCR test for Covid unless you feel sick with Covid symptoms, you are advised directly by NSW Health to have a PCR test or you are a household contact of a positive case,” the alerts read.
Testing will be on the agenda for today’s national cabinet meeting and the premiers will also receive an update on cases, the vaccine rollout, and the health system’s capacity. Also on the agenda is a proposal to subsidise access to rapid antigen tests for low-income earners.
Mr Perrottet said the testing regimen needed to “remain agile” and adjust according to NSW’s “world-leading vaccination rate”.
“The lines outside PCR testing clinics are a testament to the efforts everyone continues to make to keep people safe,” he said.
“We need to remain agile and as we move into the next phase of this pandemic, our response needs to change and so that means you only need a PCR test if you feel sick with Covid symptoms or are a household contact of a positive case or are directed by NSW Health.
“I appreciate this will take time and adjustment but with our world-leading vaccination rates, this is the best way forward.”
The awareness campaign comes after weeks of messages from Mr Perrottet, Health Minister Brad Hazzard, and chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant have only slightly curbed testing numbers.
This failure to control the ballooning figure has sparked mass testing site closures – with 28 clinics from private operator Australian Clinical Labs (ACL) shut on Monday while another operator told The Telegraph they expect it will be some weeks before they can return to pre-Christmas capacity.
It’s believed that the high positive test rate has made the pathology process slower, but ACL “progressively” reopened many of its sites yesterday while others remain shut.
Despite the major initiative, infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon urged the government to go a step further by reserving PCR tests for high-risk patients who have symptoms or are a close contact to ensure the state‘s testing facilities can cope.
Prof Collignon said the government needs to “change its messaging” so symptomatic people who are not at a high risk of getting seriously ill from Covid are no longer required to do PCR tests.
“It’s not that you ignore everybody else but because of vaccination, if you are a 30-year-old and you get Covid now, you might get unwell for a day or two, but you’re very unlikely to come to hospital or die,” he said.
COVID CLINIC QUEUE CASES AGAIN
Long queues at Covid testing clinics have returned today across Sydney following mass closures of testing sites over the festive season.
Clinics across Sydney saw hordes of Sydneysiders queue up for hours on Tuesday morning as the city‘s Covid outbreak continues.
Hundreds of cars lining up at Roselands saw traffic banked up on King Georges Rd back to reach the M5 eastbound almost a kilometre away, while delays from Lidcombe‘s site saw motorists queued onto Weeroona Rd.
Queues of cars at the Bondi Beach clinic stretched into North Bondi this morning, while the Macquarie Park, Werrington, Liverpool and Frenchs Forest clinics are also seeing hundreds of metres of delays and lengthy wait times of at least 2-3 hours.
It comes as NSW recorded 23,131 new Covid cases on Tuesday and two more deaths.
Many clinics were open with reduced hours over the holiday season, seeing huge queues and wait times for people in need of a test over Christmas or the New Year.
Twenty-eight clinics remain closed across NSW after Australian Clinical Labs announced it would shut doors until a large backlog of swabs had been completed.
Sites that remain closed include testing clinics at Clarendon Hawkesbury Showground, Dural, Emerald Hills (Leppington), Granville (Parramatta Rd), Hornsby Overflow Car Park, Hunters Hill, Kingswood, Liverpool, Marsden Park, Minto, Parklea, Penrith, Sydney Olympic Park, Warriewood, Windsor and Winmalee.
More than 70 drive-through testing sites across NSW will stay closed until January 10, according to NSW Health’s website, while a handful are operating on limited hours.
Federal MP for Macquarie Susan Templeman took to Facebook yesterday to express her frustration about two clinics, Clarendon and Winmalee, being closed in her electorate.
“This is a terrible failure of governments to ensure people can access the health support they need,” Ms Templeman wrote.
“When you ask people to ‘take personal responsibility’ you still need to give them the means to do that.”
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Originally published as NSW Covid: Testing queues blow out as Covid clinics shut
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