SUNRAYSIA Community Health Services’ (SCHS) drive-through COVID-19 pop-up testing clinic is back by popular demand.
Clinic programs manager Shelley Faulks said SCHS had been inundated with calls from the public requesting testing for the virus.
“I think it has a lot to do with the number of cases we’re seeing come up overnight in Victoria,” she said.
“Although Mildura is a long way from the identified hot spots we need to know what’s happening in our community, we need to monitor our community transmission and make sure our community is safe.”
Ms Faulks said on Monday SCHS received so many calls from the public that it struggled to keep up with demand.
“There were long waits to get through on the phone line,” she said.
“We really wanted to be able to meet the community demand so we thought if we came back out to our pop-up clinic we could see more people.”
“It’s great that we’ve had such a wonderful response from people who have mild to moderate symptoms of the virus and are coming forward to take the test.”
Due to the number of tests being conducted across the state, it can now take three to five days to receive results.
Ms Faulks said if someone felt unwell it was important they self-isolated, did a test and then continued to self-isolate until they received a negative result.
She said it was important to be vigilant now school holidays had started.
“Being school holidays, we’re likely to see a lot of visitors coming to our town, which is great for our economy but we do still need to make sure we’re keeping ourselves safe and adhering to our social distancing and hand hygiene,” Ms Faulks said.
The drive-through pop-up testing clinic targets people with mild to moderate symptoms of the virus and will operate behind Target Mildura from 9.30am to noon daily until Friday.
The afternoon GP respiratory assessment clinic at SCHS will be held from 1pm to 4pm.
With queries about this clinic, call 5021 7653.
COVID-19 symptoms:
– Fever
– Chills or sweats
– Cough
– Sore throat
– Shortness of breath
– Runny nose
– Loss of smell
* In certain circumstances headache, muscle soreness, stuffy nose, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea may also be considered symptoms.
