Cowes test tent to remain closed

The Cowes Covid testing tent will not reopen any time soon, according to the head of Bass Coast Health.

Following the closure of the tent on New Year’s Eve, Wonthaggi remains the best option for Phillip Islanders wanting to be tested for Covid. Bass Coast Health CEO Jan Child said the priority for Phillip Island was ensuring the Urgent Care Centre at the health hub stayed open with sufficient staff.

“We have had Covid patients, who are struggling at home, go through the centre, as well as the usual other medical cases,” Ms Child said.

She added that even when they received their expected bulk order of RATs (see separate story), Cowes would not be a distribution point, with the Wonthaggi tent the key focus. “We are being told the peak of this wave will hit in mid-February so I don’t imagine how we could staff Cowes before then.”

Ms Child said the Wonthaggi site continued to test for eight hours each day, opening at 9am and closing at 5pm. However she said with queued cars often stretching up to 4km from early each morning, staff had no option but to turn away some drivers.

“The line can close when we reach capacity, but the testing always stays open and continues for eight hours each day,” Jan said.

“The best option is to arrive early – some people get there at 5am. If you think you can turn up at 9am and drive through, you’re likely to wait a long time. Sometimes people won’t wait and they drive off and in those instances we can – if we had shut – reopen at, for example, 3pm.”

Last week, the testing test conducted 1885 Covid PCR tests.

She said last week 78 out of 800 staff were furloughed because they were close contacts – “not through work transmission but social contacts”.

“Our priority with staffing is no matter what, to keep departments such as emergency, the Urgent Care Centre in Cowes, maternity, testing, vaccination and chemotherapy open. Last week we stopped elective surgery and other non-critical services such as some allied health and non-emergency dental to redirect staff to other services.”