19 July 2021

Goulburn Hospital construction site reopens after COVID scare

| Hannah Sparks
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Goulburn Hospital construction site

The Goulburn Hospital construction site reopened on Monday, 19 July, after a COVID-19 scare. Photo: SNSWLHD.

Construction workers from areas in Sydney not under lockdown will be permitted to travel to work at the Goulburn Hospital expansion site, which reopened today (19 July).

The construction site closed last week following news a worker from Sydney had tested positive after visiting the site on Friday (9 July).

There was also a scare in the neighbouring town of Crookwell over the weekend after a family, identified as close contacts of a positive COVID-19 case, visited the Mobil service station.

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The service station closed as soon as it received the news on Friday but reopened when the family tested negative and after cleaning the next day.

The Southern NSW Local Health District (SNSWLHD) said there will be additional measures in place at the Goulburn construction site to keep workers, contractors and the local community safe.

Additional measures will limit workers from leaving the site. The contractor, Hansen Yuncken, will hire local suppliers to facilitate contact-free food deliveries, and all construction materials and supplies will continue to be delivered directly to the site.

A COVID-19 testing tent will also be brought on-site to facilitate surveillance testing of workers from Sydney who are permitted to visit the site under the current public health order.

SNSWLHD said the site had been deep cleaned since 9 July and QR codes and mandatory mask-wearing would continue for anyone attending the site.

While construction is banned in Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour, the same rules don’t apply in regional NSW.

However, residents from the Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool Council areas who are not permitted to leave under the current public health order won’t be permitted on site.

Anyone outside those local government areas will gain entry, provided they are tested every 72 hours (three days).

As of 5:00 pm yesterday, no one within the Goulburn community or any contacts from the construction site were COVID positive.

While this is a good sign, SNSWLHD is reminding everyone to remain vigilant and get tested if they have symptoms.

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Anyone feeling unwell – even with the mildest of symptoms such as a runny nose, scratchy or sore throat, cough, fever, shortness of breath, headache, tiredness, loss of taste or smell, nausea, diarrhoea or muscle aches – is asked to self-isolate and seek COVID-19 testing so any potential cases in the community are identified as quickly as possible.

SNSWLHD is also reminding the community that travel to Greater Sydney should be limited. Any resident of the Goulburn area who returns from Greater Sydney must abide by stay-at-home orders for 14 days after leaving the Greater Sydney area. This includes the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour regions.

For a list of free COVID-19 testing clinics in the Southern NSW Local Health District, visit their website.

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