WIMMERA Health Care Group has reported a spike in the number of COVID-19 tests conducted at their testing clinic in Horsham.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On Tuesday, 35 people received a COVID-19 test and 50 on Wednesday, jumping from 11 in total on the weekend.
Wimmera Health Care Group's acting director of medical services Dr Rob Pegram said the surge was due to an increased number of asymptomatic people seeking a test.
"We have people coming through who are asymptomatic but believe they might have been in a hotspot area in the recent past," he said.
"Therefore they are doing the right thing by coming in and getting tested, that has boosted the numbers considerably. The secondary effect of that is also increasing the amount of people who are seeking vaccinations, which is exactly what we want to see."
READ MORE:
Dr Pegram said the overnight increase in positive cases demonstrated the importance of getting vaccinated, as well as the use of QR codes for contact tracing.
"It has demonstrated the importance of what I have been saying for weeks now about the importance of QR codes to make the contract tracers job as easy as possible," he said.
"Again we are dealing with a situation where the likelihood of things getting out of control is not high, but the impact if it does get out of control is going to be enormous. We will be locked down again if this starts to exponentially grow."
Melbourne residents are about to find out if a growing coronavirus cluster in the city's north will trigger another lockdown, with 79 exposure sites listed on the health department's website.
Acting Premier James Merlino did not rule out further action on Wednesday night.
Dr Pegram said it was unlikely that Victoria's state of emergency would end in June, and the type of lockdown would depend on the nature of the COVID-19 cluster.
OTHER NEWS:
"If the numbers are contained then those hotspots may well get shut down. The ring of steel will reemerge," he said.
"However, if the numbers of positives start to look a bit more scattered outside of those areas then there is a high probability that the chief medical officer will call for a short lockdown across the state. Possibly closing borders.
"As predicted, after we get to full vaccination, whether that is October this year or October next year.
There is a lot of discussion about when that is going to happen, but until that happens the chances of us getting out of the state of emergency with the chief medical officer calling the shots is very low."
Dr Pegram encouraged anyone who was eligible to get vaccinated, with one vaccine shot providing more protection than nothing.
"We have to do the right thing, and the right thing is getting yourself tested and vaccinated," he said.
Wimmera Health Care Group operate a community testing clinic on Read Street, Horsham open from 9am to 12pm. Book ins are not required.
The Mail-Times has removed the paywall from our stories relating to health warnings and safety of the community in regards to the coronavirus. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.
