Covid NSW: Contact tracing errors prompting false isolation orders
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant has been forced to apologise for a “miscommunication” that wrongly forced a woman into isolation.
ABC Newcastle reporter Madeline Lewis received an alert from NSW Health last night informing her she was a “close contact” of a Covid-19 case that visited a gym in the city’s centre — despite never setting foot in the venue.
“Something’s going wrong with QR codes it seems… working from home tomorrow to be safe,” she posted to twitter.
A number of people replied to her tweet, claiming they also received false isolation orders.
“I received a text message from NSW Health saying I was a casual contact for a Bunnings in Bankstown. I'm on the Central Coast and have never been to Bankstown. It does seem as though there are issues with the QR codes,” posted one Twitter user.
Another woman replied: “My Service NSW history says I checked in somewhere that's about 450km from a place I checked into 15 minutes later.”
Gym confusion stemmed from address error
NSW Health eventually clarified that the wrong gym address had been listed as an exposure site.
Air Locker training has sites in Newcastle and Kotara in the city’s west. Only the Kotara site was exposed to Covid-19.
Ms Lewis took to Twitter to share her relief and frustration.
“Sorted. I understand this is an incredibly tough time and I absolutely sympathise with how hard so many people are working, but getting simple things like addresses wrong… and scaring people who think they’ve been close to someone with COVID… woah,” she said.
Dr Chant was quizzed about the mistake during the daily Covid-19 briefing on Tuesday.
“Is that an example of the system not working?” asked a reporter.
“There was an issue and an error, and I apologise for that this morning in relation to one venue in Newcastle where there was confusion over which site of the gym that was infected,” Dr Chant said.
“That was corrected quickly. So I do apologise if there are any errors. When you are dealing with a massive number, there is occasionally a miscommunication. But please know that we're working as hard as we can to get that accurate information out and doing all we can to support contact tracing.”
Covid NSW: Record 356 daily cases as virus runs rampant in community
Man who triggered Byron Bay lockdown 'didn't believe in Covid'
Opposition says it shows problems in system
NSW Shadow Health Minister Ryan Park said the reports of false isolation orders highlights a system that is “buckling under the pressure” as the state recorded another day of record Covid-19 cases.
“People need to be assured that the system is working,” he said.
Mr Park demanded the Government urgently rectify the issues.
“We don’t want the wrong people being told they are a contact while people who should be told they are a contact are not receiving that advice.”
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
