Michael Hill, Sunshine Nails, Club Hotel, Central Hotel ‘close contact’ locations

The Fever Clinic in a city rocked by Covid alerts at pubs and the main shopping centre has been so overwhelmed on Christmas Eve, anxious residents are being told to ‘come back another time’.

Generic Bundaberg Hospital

People are being turned away from Bundaberg Hospital’s fever clinic and told to “come back again another time” .

The Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service posted a statement on Facebook today saying due to significant demand for COVID-19 testing in Bundaberg, they’re asking people to ‘return home’.

“We have expanded our capacity, but demand has risen significantly. We are continuing to work on further expanding our clinics,” the post reads.

“Please be patient with our team. They are all trying their absolute best to push everyone through as quickly as possible.”

Bundaberg Hospital is turning people away at their two fever clinics after a spike in close contact cases in the region.

Bundaberg Hospital is turning people away at their two fever clinics after a spike in close contact cases in the region.

Staff working at the Hinkler Michael Hill and Sunshine Nails stores between 9:30am and 2pm on Monday, December 20 are being urged to get tested and quarantine immediately after being added to the contact tracing list.

Patrons who visited the stores during these times have been added as casual contacts and are also being urged to get tested.

It comes after Qld Health upgraded the Club Hotel and Central Hotel from ‘casual contact’ sites to ‘close contact’ sites after a covid positive person visited the two Bundaberg venues.

The person at the centre of the alert visited The Club Hotel, Bundaberg on December 18 from 8:30pm to 10pm and The Central Hotel, Bundaberg on December 18 from 10pm to 3am December 19.

People who attended the Club Hotel from 9pm to 11.15pm on December 18 and the Central Hotel from 10pm December 18 to 3am December 19 are considered close contacts and are now receiving updated information via SMS about their quarantine and testing requirements.

Cars are being turned away at the Bundaberg Hospital fever clinic by Police after a surge in close contact sites.

The Queensland Health website says if anyone has been to any of the above locations at the relevant times, they must get tested and any close contacts must immediately quarantine.

If close contacts are fully vaccinated, they will need to quarantine for 7 days and get tested on day 5 of quarantine, while unvaccinated close contacts need to quarantine for 14 days and get tested on days 5 and 12.

Secondary contacts must follow testing and quarantine requirements depending on vaccination status of the secondary and close contacts.

For more information, visit Queensland Health’s contact tracing website here.

Bundaberg Hospital’s testing appointment line is continuing to cut out on callers and people are waiting up to four hours to get tested as walk-ins following confirmation of the new local Covid case.

The NewsMail understands a second fever clinic, by appointment only, was forced to be opened due to demand, but the exact location and details of that new clinic is unknown.

Cars are being turned away at the Bundaberg Hospital fever clinic by Police after a surge in close contact sites.

A dedicated Bundaberg Hospital fever clinic appointment number is being provided to close and casual contacts at the above locations via SMS to access the newly opened clinic.

But to add to the disarray, people calling the appointment line are met with a pre-recorded message saying “You have reached the special Bundaberg Hospital fever clinic appointment line. All our operators are currently busy. We will be testing until 7pm tonight so please keep trying this line” before the call is terminated.

Sullivan Nicolaides on Bourbong Street is also accepting appointments.

QML Pathology on Bourbong Street is accepting appointments, but are closed on public holidays.

The Bundaberg Respiratory Clinic at Bundaberg East is accepting walk-ins but are closed on public holidays.

Club Hotel owner, Rodney Wheat, posted a tearful video to the business’s Facebook page stating the Hotel didn’t have enough staff to open their doors.

“We decided straight away that we would shut our doors, we didn’t want to risk anything to our patrons as well as our staff,” he says.

“We’ve done everything by the book everyday, this is really tough.

“Our staff are all being told to isolate, they’re going to isolate until they get tested.

“We’re booked in for testing for all our staff, even the staff that weren’t working on the day.

“It hasn’t been an easy year, and this had made things tougher for us.

“But we’re staying strong as a team, as a family, we know we’ve got the support from you guys out there.

“We’ve done everything right.”

The new Covid fever clinic has been specially set up between Thursday December 23 and Friday December 24 due to the new case.

If you have any Covid-19 symptoms, no matter how mild, it is recommended you get tested immediately.