Nimbin business reacted quickly to news they had a connection to a positive Covid case

A Northern Rivers business quickly shut its doors when it was revealed it had a connection to a known Covid case.

Businesses in Nimbin closed for testing after it was revealed they had connections to a Covid case.

The repercussions of one man disobeying Public Health Orders has had a dire impact on Northern Rivers residents, but the quick actions of one local business has protected vulnerable people in the community.

The owner of Nimbin Village Pharmacy, Mark Dunsdon, heard of a connection between a Sydney man who tested positive and his business, so made the decision to close last week to allow staff to get tested.

“We knew that there was a Covid case, and we knew that they had been in our area, and we knew there was a close contact who may have been in our building,” Mr Dunsdon said.

“Knowing all that, we decided to close for the day and get tested, and then come back as soon as we could.

“We didn’t have a lot of time to wait and see,” he said.

“Our job is improving and maintaining health, and all of our decisions are based around that.”

Mr Dunsdon said the business provided an essential service to vulnerable people in the community and they could not take the risk a staff member may have become infected.

He said rather than getting caught up in blaming anyone, his team worked quickly to get tested and to put protocols in place should any of the close or casual contacts test positive.

While his team, and the close contact, have so far tested negative, Mr Dunsdon said it remained a stressful time for his team.

He said the community was anxious for information about the possible exposure, and his staff had sometimes copped the brunt of that angst.

Mr Dunsdon said rather than getting caught up in the “who, what, where, and when” of the current situation, people should take the ownership of their own actions by following Health guidelines, wearing masks and using QR codes.

He said unless people did that, they can’t say the system isn’t working.

The pharmacy was also hampered by QLD border closures.

Mr Dunsdon was based in QLD, which meant he was unable to come to Nimbin to share the workload as he usually would.

This meant having to look at rostering and working a shorter week to ensure staff did not end up burnt out.

“We’re a bit stretched … normally I would be down there sharing shifts with the other pharmacist,” he said.

Mr Dunsdon said it was a tough decision to close on some days, acknowledging the pharmacy provided an essential health service to the community.

“We don’t know, this could go for a couple of weeks, we may have to shorten the week to help staff cope.”

The pharmacy was open this week from Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm