Image: Facebook.
UPDATE: Club Malua has closed its doors after learning a person who tested positive to COVID-19 visited there earlier this month.
Theresa Matthews from the Mogo Lolly Shop is closing “in the best interests of ourselves and staff and our customers to self-isolate”. Photo: File.
TUESDAY: Businesses in Batemans Bay and Mogo have closed their doors and hundreds of residents have been lining up for testing as fears of a COVID-19 outbreak spread. One of the first to make the announcement was The Mogo Lolly Shop, followed by Grumpy and Sweetheart’s, JJ’s at the Marina and more.
“We, alongside many other businesses, have decided that it is in the best interests of ourselves and staff and our customers to self-isolate,” a spokesperson for the Mogo Lolly Shop wrote on social media.
“We thank everyone who visited the South Coast to show their support.
“At this time we wanted to remind you that there are still people living in caravans and tents and sheds who have lost their homes right along the South Coast in the New Year’s Eve bushfires. These folks have endured so much this past seven months.
“As a business owner, the government really gave us no choice but to reopen our business knowing full well that our area would be at its absolute most vulnerable.”
As of this morning (21 July), widespread testing has revealed no new cases of COVID-19 in the Southern NSW Local Health District. Currently, 58 confirmed cases are attributed to the district.
The Batemans Bay cluster stands at eight people, with only one a local resident.
The SNSWLHD spokesperson said 880 tests were conducted in the Eurobodalla Shire from Saturday to Monday – 608 tests at the Batemans Bay Hanging Rock clinic and 272 at the Moruya assessment clinic.
Health authorities are continuing to ask 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, to immediately be tested for COVID-19 and self-isolate for 14 days, regardless of symptoms.
The Hanging Rock COVID-19 pop-up clinic will be open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm until further notice. Extra staff and assessment stations will be on hand to deal with the increased testing demand, traffic flow and the recording of information.
Meanwhile, the planned COVID-19 Assessment Clinic at Malua Bay this Thursday has been moved to the Hanging Rock Oval Carpark to help consolidate the testing process for local residents in one central location.
SNSWLHD urged 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.
More than 22,000 tests have been carried out across the Southern NSW Local Health District, with 4568 carried out in the Eurobodalla Shire.
The spokesperson said 3824 tests had been conducted in the Bega Valley Shire, 3907 in Goulburn Mulwaree Shire, 5515 in Queanbeyan-Palerang Shire, 2112 in the Snowy- Monaro Shire, 1330 for Yass Valley Shire and 788 in the Upper Lachlan Shire.
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