‘I had no water, no food’: Lengthy wait for Covid test at Hobart Showgrounds

A woman who needed a Covid test to be allowed to fly to France to visit her ill father was forced to wait for hours with no food or water after initially being told she couldn’t enter at all.

A SIX-hour advised wait time was the last thing Mimi Merlet expected when she arrived at the Hobart Showground on Monday to get a required PCR Covid test to travel to see her gravely ill father in France.

With no prior knowledge of the wait times, Ms Merlet arrived at the Showground – a no-appointment-required drive-in testing facility – with no water or food and was advised of the wait times as she looked out across the expanse of queued cars.

Ms Merlet had no option but to wait as she will be flying out of the state on Tuesday.

The Covid testing site at the Hobart Showground.

Fortunately, the six-hour wait time didn’t eventuate, with the process taking three hours.

“They didn’t even want to let me in when I got there,” Ms Merlet said.

“They said ‘you can’t come in, it’s at capacity’ but I said ‘I have to come in as I have a flight out tomorrow so need testing’.

“Then they told me it would be a six-hour wait.

“At France they require you to do (the PCR Covid test) in the 24-hour window prior to flying out – it’s not a long window so I couldn’t do it before.”

In the hour and a half after 10am, Ms Merlet said her vehicle had moved only about 110m.

“It is just insane, there were four rows of cars here and I haven’t seen anyone come to check if everyone is OK, or to bring us out some water,” she said.

“I didn’t bring any food or water as I didn’t expect this wait and I can’t use the toilets as they are the same toilets for everyone here and I don’t want to catch anything.

“I have seen mothers outside with their babies trying to console them.

“It (was) starting to get hot and no one’s coming here to bring water, people are really left to themselves. They need to provide better services for people.”

Cars queued up as people wait to be tested for Covid at the Hobart Showground.

Ms Merlet is paying for the PCR test through Hobart Pathology as she has no symptoms and only requires it to be eligible for travel to France.

She was surprised that, despite the fees, she had to get her test performed at the same location as people who were presenting with Covid symptoms.

“I rang (Hobart Pathology) up and said ‘do I need to book an appointment’ and they said ‘just turn up’ and I had to go to Glenorchy,” she said.

“When you are paying for it you really should be able to get a special queue.”

The Tasmanian Department of Health encouraged people to opt for a pre-booked service instead of the drive in set-up at the Hobart Showground.

“The showgrounds is a private pathology drive up site, which has no bookings so that is just joining a line and they will manage that queue,” State Health Commander Kathrine Morgan-Wicks said.

“If people would like to make a booking they can hop online, or they can ring our public health hotline to get a booking at a state testing clinic.

“You will be given a time, it means you can isolate from home, sit on the couch, watch Netflix and wait for your test time to come so you’re not sitting in long queues.”