Six-hour queues as major westside Covid testing centre closed

“It’s faster crossing the border’’: Furious westsiders have been forced to queue for up to six hours after a major drive through Covid-19 testing centre has been closed.

Angry westsiders have complained that it is faster to clear the NSW border than it is to get mandatory Covid-19 testing after a major drive through centre was closed.

Many were unaware the centre in the Kenmore Village shopping centre car park drive through facility was shut until they turned up this week to be tested.

Hundreds were forced to drive to the Waterworks Rd, Ashgrove drive through centre, about 12km away.

During the Indooroopilly cluster in August the Kenmore facility handled thousands of locals.

At the time, local state LNP MP, Dr Christian Rowan, a medical doctor who volunteered on the Covid frontline, lobbied the State Government for more testing centres in his area.

Dr Rowan also wrote to Health Minister Yvette D’Ath on Monday, again pleading for more testing centres.

“Local residents have raised with me their concerns regarding increased delays and wait times at the Covid-19 testing clinics that are currently in operation, with reports of residents being turned away and told to travel across Brisbane to seek alternative testing clinic options,’’ he wrote.

Westside federal LNP MP, Julian Simmonds, also called for more test sites.

By about 9am this morning (December 22) some people had already been waiting more than two hours at Ashgrove, with cars lined up in backstreets for about 1km.

It comes as figures revealed a quarter of a million people have entered Queensland since Monday, with those entering from hotspots requiring tests five days after entry.

Olie Vogt with his mother Els Vogt and daughter Cat.

Queensland Health said both the Kenmore and Ashgrove centres were privately operated.

QML Pathology, which operates the Kenmore facility, was contacted for comment.

The wait at Ashgrove was even worse on Tuesday, with cars queued on Waterworks Rd as far back as Coopers Camp Rd.

By late afternoon, motorists were being turned away as there was no chance they would get to the front of the line before the centre closed for the day.

“My son Lachlan has come up from Canberra, on December 17, but there was only a half-hour wait to cross the border. This is a joke,’’ Paul Meibusch said while waiting in line at Ashgrove this morning.

“I live only two streets away, but we had to jump in a car to be tested.

“There are 100,000 people coming across the border — it’s crazy closing Kenmore.

“Our nearest drive through is at Forest Lake.’’

Jason Lu, who was also waiting at Ashgrove this morning because a colleague at his wife’s workplace tested positive, said they drove to Kenmore first.

Paul Meibusch and his son Lachlan wait in the queue.

“We didn’t know it was closed. They should be telling people, we had to drive all the way over here,’’ he said.

Olie Vogt was being tested because his mother Els Vogt had flown up from Melbourne and his two-year-old daughter, Cat, developed symptoms yesterday.

“We tried to get tested at Kenmore, because we live at Chapel Hill,’’ he said.

“Then we came here, but we drove around a few times before giving up because it was just too hard (with Cat).

“Why did they close Kenmore at a time when so many people need to be tested?’’

The Indooroopilly State High School drive through facility was much quieter this morning, with only about 40 cars waiting in its car park.

A notice on the Kenmore Village website said QML Pathology would not be conducting tests “until further notice’’. No reason was given.

The line-up at the Indooroopilly State High School testing centre.

The nearby, federally-funded Kenmore Respiratory Clinic is open only Monday to Friday, from 8am-12pm. Bookings are needed.

The Kenmore Village website suggested locals could try other testing centres which did not require bookings, although none were drive through.

They included: Mater Pathology at Karana Downs (M-F, 7-12 and 12.40-3); Sullivan and Nicolaides at Jindalee (M-F, 6.30-2.30); Sullivan and Nicolaides at Taringa (M-F, 6-6).

There have now been 34,000 tests, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed at this morning’s (December 22) Covid press conference.

She also announced masks must be worn from 5am tomorrow (December 23) in cinemas and theatres, and by hospitality staff.

But she urged restaurants, cafes and other small businesses to remain open.