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The news of two more COVID-19 cases in Perth yesterday has done little to prompt more people to get tested, with the clinic at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital quiet on Boxing Day morning.
The carpark at the hospital was empty and not a single person walked in to the clinic when The West Australian visited.
WA Health reported two new local COVID-19 cases in WA on Christmas Day after the five local cases were announced on Christmas Eve.
Both cases were linked to the man who arrived in Perth from QLD on Sunday, 12 December, bringing the total number of locally acquired cases to seven.
Testing clinics across Perth were also deserted on Christmas day, with no queues in sight on Christmas Day.
However, on Thursday and Friday, thousands lined up to get tested at clinics across Perth.
Many of those in the queue had been partying Saturday night at the confirmed hot spots including Connections Nightclub, Geisha Bar and the Mess Hall.
Others were backpackers from the Old Swan Barracks — a hostel next door to a COVID hotspot — who all partied at a warehouse event Saturday night hosted by the Mess Hall.
The testing lines across Perth continued to grow as more close contacts were announced on Christmas Eve prompting people to get tested with the risk of having to spend their Christmas Day in isolation.
In NSW, more than 109,000 tests were carried out on Christmas Day, prompting Health Minister Brad Hazzard to urge only those with symptoms and those needing to travel interstate to line up at state testing hubs.
“We’re now getting something in the order of 130,000 to 160,000 tests a day,” Mr Hazzard said.
“We need to consider why are people being tested and why are we putting the stressors on our pathology system.
“The other aspect is we know that if you have a PCR test on day one and not getting results until three or four days, it may well be that you have developed a positive viral response anyway and you wouldn’t know it.”
Mr Hazzard said people were getting tested to see if it was safe to visit a relative – but it was not an effective screening method.
“I have heard also people saying, ‘I‘m getting it because I’m visiting Aunty Mabel in three or four days’, well, if you have a test today, and then you’re visiting Aunty Mabel in three or four days, it may well be by then you’re positive,” he warned.
“A far simpler, far quicker measure would simply to be to get a rapid antigen test the day you’re going to see Aunty Mabel and preferably about an hour or half an hour beforehand, go and get a rapid antigen test, check you’re OK and then your results are there.”
The demand on testing sites is also partly being driven by other states and territories requiring travellers from high-risk areas to show a negative PCR test to cross borders, or by those who have been directed to by health authorities.
NSW is now pushing for people to prioritise rapid antigen tests if they don’t have symptoms, are not a close contact or don’t need to travel interstate.
With NCA
