Grafton small business owners struggle to get Covid case information

Two weeks have almost passed since a positive case walked into their shop, yet small business owners Linda and Iven Craig say they are yet to hear from health authorities.

Craigs Birdplace and Pet Shop owners Linda and Iven Craig say they received conflicting information about a Covid-positive case that entered their South Grafton store.

Owners of a South Grafton business say they are disappointed by a lack of communication coming from NSW Health authorities after a positive case was recorded in their store.

Almost two weeks have passed since they received information a Covid-positive person entered their store, yet Craigs Birdplace and Pet Shop owners Linda and Iven Craig said they had not been notified by NSW Health.

“We were actually informed through a friend of the person who tested positive; they wanted to get the information out there as soon as possible,” Mrs Craig said.

“We contacted the health department who told us someone will call us back for further instructions, but they never did.”

The next day, the pet shop, along with several other South Grafton businesses, were listed as a venue of concern on the NSW Health website.

“It was on Facebook, mentioned on television news, mentioned in the paper, that we were a positive contact, but still the health department hadn’t contacted us, and still haven’t contacted us,” Mrs Craig said.

“Another business down the road had no idea they were even on the list because no one had contacted them.”

Mrs Craig said they immediately closed the store, cleaned the site and everyone got tested.

Thankfully all received a negative result.

From there, they reviewed the security footage to find out how many people entered the store on October 5 between 2pm and 2.30pm.

“Only four came here during that time frame, but only two scanned in,” Mrs Craig said.

“The first one was already out of the store before the second one came in.

The next two customers were about 10-15 minutes later and neither scanned in or signed in.”

After careful scrutineering of our security cameras and then with consultation with the customers who came into our...

Posted by Craigs Birdplace and Pet Shop on Monday, October 18, 2021

After making her own inquiries, Mrs Craig said it turned out those customers in that time frame had all tested negative to the virus.

“We actually discovered that the time was wrong,” she said.

“The positive person didn’t come in between 2pm and 2.30pm, they came in between 3pm and 3.30pm.”

Mrs Craig said the person was wearing a mask when they entered the store, but failed to sign in.

“We’ve heard that the person has gotten over it really well,” she said.

“They said they didn’t have any signs and felt perfectly healthy.”

However, Mrs Craig said she was really frustrated with the health department’s lack of communication and conflicting information.

“With all the contact tracing and alerting, it’s just disappointing to see that they’re still not getting it right,” she said.

Despite the communication breakdown, Mrs Craig said the incident didn’t deter the South Grafton community from reaching out.

“We got a lot of messages of support from customers and a big increase in business because people didn’t want to see us go down,” she said.

“It was also really incredible when the owner of Pets Domain in South rang us and said they could bring their staff over to help run the shop if we couldn’t.

“We’re supposed to be rivals, but it just goes to show how special this community is.”

Anyone with even the slightest symptoms should get tested for Covid-19 as soon as they feel unwell.

There are more than 500 Covid-19 testing locations across NSW.

NSW Health have been contacted for comment.