Canberrans were lined up in seemingly never-ending queues outside the Weston Creek Community Centre following the announcement of an active COVID case in the ACT today.
Undeterred by facing up to five hours’ waiting, people of all ages stood patiently as ACT Health ramped up their staffing to accommodate the increase in demand.
The COVID testing lines at Weston stretched from the centre the length of the block, down past Cooleman Court to the McDonalds.
At EPIC, cars were banked up past Northbourne Avenue with patrons told by staff to expect an eight-hour wait.
To accommodate the demand, a staff member has been stationed outside the Weston facility under a marquee to take names and contact details to enable people to wait in their cars.
With ACT Health anticipating a surge in demand for testing, staffing has been scaled up and the potential to expand the opening hours of some testing sites across the Territory is being explored.
Alongside Weston, the drive-through COVID-19 Testing Clinic at EPIC, YourGP@Crace, Lakeview Medical Practice Tuggeranong and the Winnunga Nimmityjah Respiratory Clinic are all open for COVID testing.
The new drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic at Brindabella Business Park in the Canberra Airport opened at 4pm today.
The Garran COVID-19 mass vaccination clinic, formerly a testing facility, is only open for vaccinations, not tests.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr today said the ACT Government will monitor the situation in relation to testing capacity, with the ability to boost staffing and/or the operating hours at the EPIC and Weston testing sites.
“It’s August, it’s winter in Canberra, we also need to ensure that our staff are able to perform the testing safely and that the community is not in a position where they are being asked to stand in the frozen cold,” he said.
“We can significantly extend the hours of operation at Exhibition Park, and we are increasing the number of staff available,” Mr Barr said.
“We need to prioritise our testing on those that are identified as the close contacts and those who have symptoms.”
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-smith flagged ACT Health may consider scaling back non-essential health services over the next week to free up staff for testing.
“We do continue to ask people for patience, we know the demand for testing will be significantly higher than we’ve seen over the last few weeks,” she said.
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