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A busy Covid-19 testing clinic in Sydney‘s ritzy suburb of Mosman has been shut down after residents complained of ‘excessive traffic’ and potential exposure to the virus.
The Mosman Council confirmed the testing site on Melrose Street would be closed from Thursday.
‘Following significant public safety concerns due to excessive traffic, parking and access issues, a decision has been made that the drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic in Melrose Street will be closed after today,’ the council said in a statement.
‘Council is working with clinic operator Douglass Hanly Moir (DHM) to identify an alternative location for the testing clinic.’
The Mosman council, in Sydney’s lower north shore confirmed the testing site on Melrose Street would be closed after residents complained cars waiting in line were blocking access to homes
The move has sparked division in the community, with the closure coming at a time when Covid infections have skyrocketed in NSW.
The centre had served residents from Mosman and nearby Neutral Bay and Cremorne, with the next closest drive-through testing clinic in Willoughby.
Many locals had complained about the long queues of cars blocking access to driveways, as well as having exposure to people potentially infected with the virus.
Some residents had written to the DHM to say they were being ‘exposed to the risk of Covid infection’ when they had to ask potentially Covid-positive drivers to move their cars, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Others complained about cars travelling the wrong way through a roundabout, while some were concerned about unmasked drivers getting out of their vehicles while waiting to be tested.
The move has sparked division in the community with the closure coming at a time where Covid infections have skyrocketed in NSW
John Rubio, who owns a pool shop, said he’d lost up to 40 per cent of his usual trade because people were avoiding the area.
‘The traffic queues go all the way back past the street, people are forced to overtake – the whole thing is just a shambles,’ he told the publication.
‘If you look at Bondi they operate the clinic away from the main thoroughfare and not directly on top of homes.’
Mosman councillor Simon Menzies said he was surprised an alternate location hadn’t been found before the clinic was shut down.
‘It’s been crazy there for almost two years. Personally, I think there are better locations in Mosman,’ he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘It’s very important we have that facility available in the suburb. I thought they would have organised something.’
The Melrose Street facility had been running since last year.
The Bondi testing facility is operated in a separate area to residential streets
Source: Daily Mail
