Hills District on edge after coronavirus spike as new clinic opens
Castle Towers shopping centre was a “ghost town” today after a coronavirus case was linked to the usually bustling shopping centre. It comes as cases in The Hills continue to increase and a new drive-through testing clinic in Castle Hill is inundated.
Hills Shire
Don't miss out on the headlines from Hills Shire. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Warning: dodgy builder operating in The Hills
- Shock video: Angle grinder used to stel $45k of cigarettes
- Seniors housing development off the table in rural areas
Hills residents say they are terrified of an outbreak of coronavirus as numbers in Sydney’s northwest increase again.
There are currently 18 active coronavirus cases in The Hills local government area. Importantly all cases have a known source.
But there is growing concern around a cluster at Tangarra School for Girls in nearby Cherrybrook which falls in the Hornsby local government area.
There are now 19 cases linked to Tangarra with the source of the outbreak unknown.
The independent Catholic school is known to have a number of large, Catholic families and there are concerns that the numbers will keep increasing.
On Tuesday, NSW Health issued an alert requesting anyone who visited Castle Towers shopping centre on Friday, August 7 between 3.30pm and 5pm to watch for COVID-19 symptoms and if symptoms develop to get immediately tested.
In a statement Castle Towers said they understood the shopper who tested positive to COVID-19 spent most of the time on Level 1 at the food court.
“We have undertaken a deep clean of this area with high grade disinfectant overnight and we are being guided by NSW Health on how to manage this situation.”
On Wednesday, the usually busy shopping centre was deserted and a number of shops were closed for a deep clean including Foot Locker and the cafe Qube.
Jan Hogan, 80, from West Pennant Hills described the shopping centre as a “ghost town”.
“I am very concerned about the outbreak and I think the Premier needs to bring in a stronger lockdown,” she told the Hills Shire Times.
Ms Hogan said she had been wearing a face mask since April this year.
Ben Heywood from Annangrove said he didn’t think the government was handling the crisis well.
“As a retail worker it is very uncomfortable at work,” he said.
“They need to do a stronger shutdown.”
Other shoppers the Hills Shire Times spoke to said they were “terrified” of the outbreak.
Business owners were also struggling.
One business owner cried as they explained since last Friday the shopping centre had been “very quiet”.
“I won’t be able to pay rent here and my husband has also lost his job because of Covid-19,” she said.
Danny Dank from Dapper & Boss said his hair salon had been “quiet” lately.
“We are starting to get worried,” he said.
Queues at a new Covid-19 drive-through clinic at Castle Hill showground were hundreds of metres long.
There are now a number of testing facilities in The Hills to deal with the latest outbreak.
These include:
Bella Vista Clinical Labs Pathology: 14 Lexington Drive, Bella Vista
Carlingford Drive-through Clinic: 71 Murray Farm Road, Carlingford ( no booking required)
Quakers Hill Medlab Pathology: 6 Melrose Avenue, Quakers Hill ( no booking required)
Windsor Clinical Labs Pathology: 2 Day Street, Windsor
Windsor Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology: 2 Day Street, Windsor
Windsor Respiratory Clinic: 6 Kable Street, Windsor
Castle Hill Drive-Through Clinic: Castle Hill Showground ( no booking required)
Castle Hill Respiratory Clinic: Castle Hill Mall
West Pennant Hills Histopath Pathology: 55 Coonara Avenue ( no booking required)
