Six more people associated with the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club have tested positive to COVID-19, a Southern NSW Local Health District spokesperson says.
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This is in addition to the Sydney father and son who were at the club on Monday, July 13 who subsequently returned home and tested positive.
Health authorities said six more people had tested positive by Saturday evening, July 18.
Anyone who was at the club between 7pm and 9.30pm on July 13 is urged to immediately self-isolate and seek testing. Even those returning negative tests must remain in isolation for two weeks.
Further, anyone at the club on Wednesday, July 15, Thursday, July 16 and Friday, July 17, is also urged to get tested and isolate.
"NSW Health is in the process of conducting further contact tracing of staff and patrons who were at the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club between 7pm to 9:30pm on Monday 13 July," a Southern Health spokesperson said.
"In addition to the two people who were infectious with COVID-19 and were dining at the Bistro, a further six people associated with the club have been diagnosed as positive with COVID-19.
"As a result, all patrons and staff who were at the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club on Monday 13 July, Wednesday 15 July, Thursday 16 July and Friday 17 July, should self-isolate for 14 days after they were last at the Club, and seek testing for COVID-19.
"Even if they test negative, they should remain in isolation for the full 14 days, and should be tested again if they develop symptoms of COVID-19. Guidance for self-isolation for close contacts is available here.
On Friday evening, Southern Health was urging anyone at the club on July 13, to get tested, but that advice conflicted with advice from the deputy NSW health commissioner the following day. NSW Health on Saturday, was urging people to self-isolate, but only seek testing if they developed symptoms.
The Batemans Bay Post understands some seeking tests on Saturday were turned away or faced long waits.
"SNSWLHD is urging anyone feeling unwell - even with the mildest of symptoms such as a runny nose, scratchy throat cough, fever, shortness of breath, headache, sore throat, tiredness, loss of taste/smell, nausea, diarrhoea or muscle aches - to self-isolate and seek COVID-19 testing, so cases in the community are identified as quickly as possible," the spokesperson said on Sunday night.
"To ensure people can get tested quickly, SNSWLHD will continue testing in Batemans Bay through a COVID-19 Pop-up clinic at the Hanging Rock Oval Car Park (near the function centre) on Beach Road, Batemans Bay.
"The clinic will be open from daily from 9am to 2pm until further notice. In anticipation of the continued demand, extra staff will be working at the Pop-up clinic during this time.
"The need for scheduled appointments across many of the District's COVID-19 testing sites has been removed. Callers to the SNSWLHD 1800 999 880 COVID line will be provided with information on testing eligibility and clinic times and locations.
"These sites include Goulburn Base Hospital, Queanbeyan District Hospital, Eurobodalla Health Service (Moruya), South East Regional Hospital, Cooma District Hospital, Jindabyne Clinic and Yass District Hospital.
"Also included are the 'Pop-up' clinics at Malua Bay, Hanging Rock, Merimbula and Crookwell. This information is also available at www.snswlhd.health.nsw.gov.au
"A number of our smaller COVID testing sites will still be by appointment only (Pambula Hospital, Bombala MPS, Eden, Perisher and Thredbo) - call 1800 999 880 (option 2).
"It remains essential that everyone maintains social distancing and good hygiene to minimise the risk of spread between people. There are steps we can take to protect ourselves and loved ones:
- If you have even mild symptoms, a cold or cough, get tested and stay home until you're cleared.
- Keep your distance from others at all times even if you are well.
- If you have been in Victoria, don't mix with other people until two weeks has passed.
"People can unwittingly pass it to others if they are incubating the infection or have very mild symptoms, so we all need to be very careful and practise hand hygiene and maintain social distancing by keeping at least 1.5m away from other people," the spokesperson said.
