coronavirus,
The ACT has the ability to establish pop-up coronavirus testing facilities within 24 hours to provide extra capacity to test asymptomatic communities when needed. Pop-up testing sites could be used to meet spikes in demand after more medical staff are needed full time to deliver the vaccination roll out and capacity in permanent testing facilities is dialled back. ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said health authorities were continuing to work through options to maintain COVID-19 testing capacity while managing the vaccination program. “Obviously the nurses that are doing the testing are also probably the kind of skilled people we’ll need to do the vaccinations as well,” Ms Stephen-Smith said. “It is going to be a workforce challenge ensuring that the very, very large vaccination program can be rolled out across the ACT. The Commonwealth is going to be seeking workforce. We’re going to be needing workforce for that. All of those things will come into consideration.” There were no plans to close any of the government testing centres to consolidate resources despite recent low testing numbers at individual sites. The ACT government spends on average $356,000 a week on testing centres, but the cost fluctuated based on demand and staffing numbers. Permanently closing testing sites was not an option with danger months for the pandemic still ahead, Australian National University infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon said. “Our next big danger period is going to be winter,” Prof Collignon said. “We could have quite extensive spread like Melbourne if we drop our guard and don’t keep up the basics at least.” With some of the territory’s five sites processing fewer than 50 presentations for COVID-19 tests on some days, Prof Collignon said it made sense logistically to temporarily close testing sites where testing rates had fallen. Any short-term site closures, however, would need to be capable of reopening within the day if outbreaks, suspected or known, were to emerge in Canberra, he said. “I think for the foreseeable future, the next six to 12 months, we’re going to have to have the ability to do lots of testing,” Prof Collignon said. “What you have to do is maintain the ability to very rapidly, within 12 or 24 hours, be able to triple or quadruple your testing capacity.” Ms Stephen-Smith told the Sunday Canberra Times ACT Health was also working with Venues Canberra to determine whether the drive-through testing site at Exhibition Park could be moved to free up the site for other activities. “We know that as we start to see larger events become possible again that there’s going to be more and more demand for events at EPIC and so those conversations are continuing,” Ms Stephen-Smith said. Ms Stephen-Smith said after a waste water test came back positive for COVID-19 from Belconnen last week, health authorities were ready to mobilise a pop-up testing facility. “There was the capacity to get moving on that within 24 hours if it was needed but we decided to wait until the result came back from this week’s waste water testing and when that came back negative, obviously we don’t need to really encourage asymptomatic people to get tested,” she said. Ms Stephen-Smith said pop-up testing sites would likely only be required when community-wide testing of asymptomatic people was necessary. More than 127,000 people had presented for tests across six government testing sites since the coronavirus pandemic began. More than 62,000 of those, nearly half, had been at Exhibition Park. The Garran Surge Centre had tested fewer than 800 people a week since the beginning of November. In the week beginning January 17, just 309 people presented for tests. Professor Collignon said quarantine hotels and testing sites would be needed across Australia until local and global COVID-19 transmission was significantly reduced. “I would think [closing them] is at least a year away because not only do we have to vaccinate Australia, we have to vaccinate most of the world,” he said. – with Sarah Basford Canales
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The ACT has the ability to establish pop-up coronavirus testing facilities within 24 hours to provide extra capacity to test asymptomatic communities when needed.
Pop-up testing sites could be used to meet spikes in demand after more medical staff are needed full time to deliver the vaccination roll out and capacity in permanent testing facilities is dialled back.
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said health authorities were continuing to work through options to maintain COVID-19 testing capacity while managing the vaccination program.
“Obviously the nurses that are doing the testing are also probably the kind of skilled people we’ll need to do the vaccinations as well,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
“It is going to be a workforce challenge ensuring that the very, very large vaccination program can be rolled out across the ACT. The Commonwealth is going to be seeking workforce. We’re going to be needing workforce for that. All of those things will come into consideration.”
There were no plans to close any of the government testing centres to consolidate resources despite recent low testing numbers at individual sites.
The ACT government spends on average $356,000 a week on testing centres, but the cost fluctuated based on demand and staffing numbers.
Permanently closing testing sites was not an option with danger months for the pandemic still ahead, Australian National University infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon said.
“Our next big danger period is going to be winter,” Prof Collignon said.
“We could have quite extensive spread like Melbourne if we drop our guard and don’t keep up the basics at least.”
With some of the territory’s five sites processing fewer than 50 presentations for COVID-19 tests on some days, Prof Collignon said it made sense logistically to temporarily close testing sites where testing rates had fallen.
Any short-term site closures, however, would need to be capable of reopening within the day if outbreaks, suspected or known, were to emerge in Canberra, he said.
“I think for the foreseeable future, the next six to 12 months, we’re going to have to have the ability to do lots of testing,” Prof Collignon said.
“What you have to do is maintain the ability to very rapidly, within 12 or 24 hours, be able to triple or quadruple your testing capacity.”
Ms Stephen-Smith told the Sunday Canberra Times ACT Health was also working with Venues Canberra to determine whether the drive-through testing site at Exhibition Park could be moved to free up the site for other activities.
“We know that as we start to see larger events become possible again that there’s going to be more and more demand for events at EPIC and so those conversations are continuing,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
“There was the capacity to get moving on that within 24 hours if it was needed but we decided to wait until the result came back from this week’s waste water testing and when that came back negative, obviously we don’t need to really encourage asymptomatic people to get tested,” she said.
Ms Stephen-Smith said pop-up testing sites would likely only be required when community-wide testing of asymptomatic people was necessary.
More than 127,000 people had presented for tests across six government testing sites since the coronavirus pandemic began. More than 62,000 of those, nearly half, had been at Exhibition Park.
The Garran Surge Centre had tested fewer than 800 people a week since the beginning of November. In the week beginning January 17, just 309 people presented for tests.
Professor Collignon said quarantine hotels and testing sites would be needed across Australia until local and global COVID-19 transmission was significantly reduced.
“I would think [closing them] is at least a year away because not only do we have to vaccinate Australia, we have to vaccinate most of the world,” he said.
– with Sarah Basford Canales
