Frantic expansion of testing sites in Sydney's Covid-stricken hotspots after essential workers were forced to line up for EIGHT hours to get checked
Health authorities have frantically extended the opening hours of several testing sites in the Covid-ravaged hotspot of southwest Sydney after thousands of residents were forced to queue for up to eight hours to get swabbed.
Residents in the Fairfield local government area who work outside the region must now get tested every three days in a desperate effort to curb the city's Covid-19 horror outbreak.
To support the new testing scheme a grace period will allow workers to leave the area without a test until Saturday, with opening hours of testing clinics to be extended in response to the overwhelming demand.
Two new 24/7 clinics - at the Fairfield Showground and the Endeavour Sports Park Car Park in Fairfield West - have been established to better prepare for the testing onslaught.
It comes after tens of thousands of residents flooded testing sites on Wednesday, with queues stretching back for kilometres from 6am at the Fairfield Showground.
Health authorities have frantically extended the opening hours of several testing sites in the Covid-ravaged hotspot of southwest Sydney after thousands of residents were forced to queue for up to eight hours to get swabbed
Many locals slept in their cars as they queued to be tested overnight while other residents who live in the area could not exit their driveways due to the traffic bedlam.
There were also reports of police turning locals away at the drive-through clinic late Tuesday night because there were just two health workers conducting tests.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian apologised for the inconvenience to Fairfield locals and said people who don't have symptoms can get tested near their work.
'If you are an essential worker or someone who cannot work from home and must conduct particular work, living in the Fairfield local government area, you can get tested closer to your place of work,' Ms Berejiklian said.
'If you don't have symptoms and need to conduct work outside your home, you cannot do it inside the house, you can get tested at the closest place to your workplace as opposed to in the Fairfield area, to take pressure off.'
Fairfield Major Frank Carbone has called for designated testing facilities for essential workers to ease wait times and reduce the spread of the virus.
Two 24/7 clinics have been established to better prepare for the testing onslaught, the Fairfield Showground and the Endeavour Sports Park Car Park in Fairfield West
Residents waited up to eight hours in the queue at the Fairfield Showground drive-through testing clinic. Pictured is the traffic chaos on Wednesday
Fairfield workers arrived in droves following orders to be tested every three days, sparking traffic chaos near a 24 hour testing centre early Wednesday morning
'What I'm concerned about is these residents who have symptoms are not going to wait six hours in a line up for testing,' he said.
'If the government wants to test essential workers, they need to provide extra facilities separate to these testing sites.'
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He said his community were maintaining a 'strong spirit' but their patience was dwindling, with many feeling as if they were being treated differently from the rest of Sydney.
Wayne was one of the locals who joined the queue at Fairfield Showground at 1am on Wednesday, but was forced to give up after three hours to go to work.
'The guy told me there was still a four-hour wait at that hour,' he told 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham.
Another frustrated local who queued up to be tested on his way to work told the Today Show at 7am he'd be in the line for three hours already.
A TAFE teacher said she lined up for two hours to get tested with her ten-month-old and a three-year-old, who she said were agitated at having to be idle for so long.
'I can't rely on anyone to babysit as we can't have contact with anyone so that has been very stressful,' she told the Daily Telegraph.
Mr Carbone previously described the scenes as chaos as he slammed the new rules announced by the NSW government.
SOUTHWEST CLINIC HOURS EXTENDED
There are currently two 24/7 clinics operating in Fairfield:
- Fairfield Showground Syd-Path Drive-Through Clinic, 443 Smithfield Road, Prairiewood
- Fairfield West Laverty Pop-Up Drive-Through Clinic, Endeavour Sports Park Car Park, Maud Street, Fairfield West
The opening hours of these clinics have been extended:
- Smithfield Douglass Hanly Moir Drive-Through Clinic, Brenan Park, Bourke Street, Smithfield – open every day from 6:00am to 8:00pm
- Bossley Park Laverty Pathology Drive-Through Clinic, Club Marconi, 121-133 Prairie Vale Road, Bossley Park – open every day from 8:30am to 6:00pm
- Wetherill Park 4Cyte Drive-Through Clinic, 22-30 Mansfield Street (enter via 31 Rosetti Street), Wetherill Park – open every day except Saturdays from 8:00am to 8:00pm
'These are people that want to get tested, these are doctors and nurses, people that help our community, they work far and wide and these are essential workers,' Mr Carbone told the Today show on Wednesday.
'The mandated plan where people need to get tested two times a week, once every three days, was very badly thought out.
'We need more testing clinics, we need more vaccines. The government needs to listen to the community. People can't get out of their cars, people cannot sleep and people cannot get tested, most importantly.'
It's estimated around 45,000 local residents work outside the Fairfield LGA, which is home to a population of 180,000.
Residents didn't have to wait long to be tested at Maroubra's Heffron Park on Wednesday
An aerial shot of Smithfield Road early Wednesday morning showed the queue for the testing clinic at Fairfield Showground stretching for kilometres
Thousands of Fairfield locals queued to be tested on their way to work on Wednesday, even though they have another three days to do so
Mr Carbone said the long queues were not just chaotic but potentially dangerous as it meant people who had Covid symptoms could not access a test.
'Yesterday, I got complaints from people who were sick who want to get tested, who can't afford to wait six hours in a queue and have gone home,' he said.
'It's unfortunate that the government has done this. I don't think they understood the magnitude of it and I don't think they understood the amount of essential workers we have in Fairfield.'
Today show host Karl Stefanovic was shocked by the scenes and claims locals are waiting up to eight hours to be tested.
'This is absolutely disgusting for the people of Fairfield that they have to wait that long at a testing clinic,' he said.
'It is not good enough for the people of Fairfield.
'They're doing the right thing this morning and they're being badly let down.'
The Fairfield Showground testing clinic is struggling with the overwhelming demand from locals who work outside the LGA, who have until the end of Friday to get tested.
Locals are waiting up to eight hours to be tested at Fairfield Showground, where the testing clinic is now open 24 hours. Pictured is the traffic queue
Health workers are working around the clock to test thousands of residents at the Fairfield Showground drive-through clinic
Many essential workers who live in the Fairfield LGA are coming off 12-hour shifts and are then waiting eight hours to be tested. Pictured are the testing queues on Wednesday
Co-host Allison Langdon later grilled Prime Minister Scott Morrison over the chaotic scenes.
'These are people who've come off 12-hour shifts, then waiting six hours for a test,' she told the prime minister.
'How is this good enough, the situation we're seeing in Fairfield this morning?'
Mr Morrison replied: 'I'm sure the NSW government, who is running the testing regimes there, will get on top of that.'
NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet apologised to the Fairfield community on behalf of the state government.
'We working to get more testing into Fairfield,' he told 2GB.
Mr Perrottet reminded locals they had until Saturday to get tested and can leave the Fairfield LGA while they're waiting for test results, as long as they don't have any symptoms.
The rule doesn't apply to residents who don't need to leave the local government area for work.
New Covid-19 testing rules- what you need to know
New COVID-19 testing rules are in place under a Public Health Order for workers who live in Greater Sydney and the Fairfield local government areas.
*Fairfield LGA residents leaving the area for work must get tested every three days
*Residents have until the end of end of Saturday (July 17) to get their first test
*Rule doesn't apply to Fairfield residents who work in the LGA
*Workers are not required to wait for a negative test result but must carry proof of the test such as an SMS or email.
*Greater Sydney residents entering regional NSW for work must get a test every seven days and have until the end of Sunday to get their first test
The southwest is now considered the epicentre of Sydney's coronavirus outbreak, with 70 of the 97 cases recorded yesterday from the area.
The NSW Premier said 24 of those infections were out in the community while for the entire time they were contagious, but that there were 36 mystery cases still under investigation.
The relentless spread of the disease, which has now seen 864 locally acquired cases in NSW since June 16, caused Gladys Berejiklian to extend the Greater Sydney lockdown for another two weeks until July 30.
Ms Berejiklian said the decision to extend the stay-at-home restrictions 'hurts' but that the health advice she was receiving gave her no over option.
'It always hurts to say this, but we need to extend the lockdown for at least another two weeks,' she said.
Traffic queues along Smithfield Road stretched for kilometres on Wednesday morning
Fairfield mayor Frank Carbone described the scenes near Fairfield Showground as chaos