Mad scramble for tests sparks Christmas holiday chaos
Thousands of Australians are rushing to get tested for Covid-19 in time to make it across state borders for Christmas, amid fears demand at testing sites is overwhelming health systems.
Thousands of Australians on Wednesday were scrambling to get tested for Covid-19 in time to make it across state border lines for Christmas, amid fears that the wave of travellers at testing sites is overwhelming state health systems.
Long queues at testing centres around the country were exacerbated by interstate travellers who are not allowed to enter Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia, the Northern Territory or Western Australia without a PCR test – nasal and throat swabs – 72 hours before departure.
Scott Morrison and top doctors have united to call on state and territory leaders to drop PCR requirements in favour of rapid antigen tests to free up health workers.
Mr Morrison said the PCR testing requirement was placing an unnecessary burden on the testing system, with approximately 25 per cent of people lining up for tests not infectious and purely seeking to travel.
“We've all seen the terrible queues and the long waits people have had,” the Prime Minister said. “Some 20 to 25 per cent of those people waiting are not symptomatic, they’re not a close or casual contact. They just want to travel to another state.
“There was a positive discussion and the medical expert panel will give further advice on whether testing is required at all for travel, or if we can move to the more simple measure of RAT (rapid antigen testing) which will reduce those queues.”
The surge in testing has wrought havoc for many hopeful travellers, with some testing sites forced to turn people away or close early after running out of equipment.
It comes as hospitalisations in NSW remained relatively stable despite cases surging to 3763 on Wednesday, with 302 people in hospital, 40 people in intensive care and 12 who are ventilated.
When the first Omicron case in Australia was detected on November 27, there were 174 Covid-19 patients in hospital, 26 in ICU and 10 on ventilators.
However the number of daily new cases in NSW has increased tenfold in that time.
Victoria recorded 1503 new cases on Wednesday, with 394 Covid patients in hospital, 70 in intensive care and 41. As in NSW, hospitalisation numbers are less than double what they were four weeks ago, although Victoria’s case numbers have not increased by as much.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would not review the state’s PCR testing policy until next year after she received advice that only 10 per cent of tests interstate were for tourism travel.
“We will look at whether this is approved, and we may legalise them in the new year, but between now and the new year we will require those PCR tests for people coming into a state,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Some epidemiologists have supported the move to review mandatory PCR tests for interstate travel over fears the delays would spark a health risk if symptomatic people were not being tested fast enough to monitor the outbreak.
Infectious diseases expert Peter Collignon said there was a drastic need to be more selective in who received a PCR test.
“The problem is, because of the fear of Omicron that is out of proportion to the risk, there is a lot of asymptomatic people getting tested,” Professor Collignon said.
“The problem with that is the ones that actually do need to be tested, or those with symptoms, are facing huge delays. We need to change the focus of who we test and accept that the virus is here and is not going away. Provided it is not going to harm people who are vaccinated, we need to be more selective in the groups we test.
“The system is being overwhelmed by people receiving the PCR test (for travel). It means the people who really need the tests can’t get them in an appropriate time. It isn’t sustainable.”
Adelaide residents Jacqui and Matthew O’Neill were forced to cancel their flights to Brisbane, where they were due to fly with their two children Liam, 9 and Finn 6, to spend one final Christmas with their terminally ill grandfather.
Despite lining up for a test within the 72-hour timeframe, the O’Neill family failed to receive their results in time .
“We tried to get a test done exactly three days before the flight, but the lines were so long that we kept getting turned away from sites,” Ms O’Neill said. “We waited more than two hours in line at one site, only to be told it had closed. We were finally able to get one, but we still didn't receive our results in time.”
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