Covid tests in Coffs Harbour come back negative as Gurmesh Singh talks vaccines

More than a week after it emerged a positive Covid case visited the Coffs Coast, every single one of the thousands tests have come back negative.

More than a week after a possible Covid-19 exposure in Coffs Harbour, focus has turned to vaccinations.

Coffs Harbour was left on edge last week after it was revealed a positive Covid-19 case visited the Hoey Moey pub and the construction site of the $150 million Shoreline development in Park Beach.

While there is two days before those deemed close contacts of the case will finish their isolation period the region will be buoyed by the news that as of 8pm on Tuesday night no one had returned a positive test.

Coffs Harbour MP Gurmesh Singh praised the effort of frontline health staff after their huge effort which included the establishment of a drive-through testing clinic at C.ex Stadium. 

“We have had over 5000 tests and thankfully all of them so far have come through as negative,” he said.

“The workload of the frontline staff has increased and we as a society have to acknowledge that.”

Mr Singh echoed the sentiment of NSW Health minister Brad Hazzard who said frontline health workers were being put at risk by people “not listening” to health advice, which included getting vaccinated.

He said it was now everyone’s job to go out and build up herd immunity by getting as many people as possible vaccinated.

“I think (they) are putting not just the health staff, but everybody at risk,” Mr Singh said.

“Highly mobile people in our community continuing to spread the virus is obviously putting everybody at risk and not just (their) lives but also our economy, businesses and way of life.”

A Coffs Harbour construction site has been shut after a visitor to the site tested positive to coronavirus in Sydney. Workers at The Shoreline received covid tests on site by NSW Health staff. Photo: Tim Jarrett

Asked if raising the vaccination rate was the only way out of the crisis, Mr Singh said countries that had a high rate of vaccinations were seeing “very low” hospitalisations and deaths compared to “other waves”.

“To move from the current stage of restrictions into a more open society and economy we do need to get a greater percentage of our population vaccinated.”

Meanwhile pharmacies are the latest to join the vaccination effort with three on the Coffs Coast now able to administer the jab. They are the Bellingen, Urunga and Dorrigo Plateau pharmacies.

They join the long list of medical practices and health organisations that have been vaccinating people on the Coffs Coast since the beginning of the year.

The region’s 80 aged care facilities completed their vaccination programs at the end of June and as of this week about 150,000 vaccinations have been given inside Healthy North Coast’s footprint which stretches from Port Macquarie to the Queensland border.

There are numerous medical centres in which Coffs Coast residents can book a vaccination appointment, to find out more visit service.nsw.gov.au.