LOCKDOWN day 1: Test sites slammed while vaccinations remain out of reach

Close contacts were housed in a Newcastle hotel 'quarantine facility' where they were "closely monitored" and managed by police and security guards, as well as health care workers providing care and support.

A COVID ward was established at John Hunter Hospital and an emergency meeting held for staff to keep them safe, informed and "COVID-ready".

The two new cases, a woman in her 60s and a woman in her 20s, brought the region's tally to seven. The first five cases - three people in their 20s and two children from Maitland Christian School, aged 8 and 11, were first thought to be linked to a party at Blacksmith's beach on Friday, July 30.

It is now thought the first case may be linked to a shopper at Charlestown Square the day before, with a long list of 'casual contacts' who visited one or more exposure sites there urged to get tested "immediately".

Dr Chant said high testing rates in the Hunter would help determine whether the week-long lockdown would extend or end next Thursday. "Again I am urging the Newcastle community and surrounds to come forward and get tested."

Her 'call to arms' was answered by Hunter residents who flocked to test clinics in their thousands, in some cases queueing for up to eight hours. One Hunter woman, identified as a casual contact after shopping at Charlestown Square and who is a health care worker, as well as experiencing symptoms, left home at 6am on Friday to get tested but was turned away from test sites at Warners Bay and Gateshead, where there was no triage system in place.

"They are telling you to get tested and isolate until you get a negative result ... but you can't do what the government is asking you to do," she said.

Health experts called for a better system so that people at higher risk of being infected could be tested quickly. Dr Lee Fong, secretary of Hunter GP Association, said similar protocols should be in place to those are operating in Sydney, where people in queues were asked to identify themselves if they should be prioritised.

"They are being asked to identify themselves ... as close or casual contacts," he said. "That's already happened in other testing sites so yes it makes sense for something similar to be applied locally."

University of Newcastle virologist, Associate Professor Nathan Bartlett, agreed saying the testing of people at high risk of exposure should be fast-tracked.

"If the system is good enough they can triage the way you test and clearly identify those who are much more likely to be COVID positive and get sick," he said. "To start off ... a dedicated central place for high exposure risk, symptomatic individuals so they know where to go straight away."

State MP for Charlestown Jodie Harrison, another casual contact linked to the Charlestown Square site and who also spent hours lining up at clinics, said it was clear more test sites were needed. "Until these ... are provided I can only plead with people to be patient and say thanks for doing the right thing."

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian also urged people to come forward and get vaccinated. On Wednesday, 84,000 people in NSW were vaccinated and the push was on for that number to increase. "The sooner we all get vaccinated the sooner we can all live more freely," Ms Berejiklian said. "Once we hit the 70 per cent vaccination rate, life will be much easier."

But her words caught in the throats of Hunter residents as their struggle to book in for vaccinations continued, just days after 5,500 vaccinations slated for the region were re-directed to Sydney-based HSC students.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard's efforts to encourage Sydney's HSC students to 'go for gold' just added insult to injury, Federal Shortland MP Pat Conroy said.

Mr Hazzard, who provided details of a sophisticated system to support HSC students in hotspots to make their bookings, said they were being offered "a golden ticket". "This is your golden ticket, your golden opportunity for a vaccination," he said. "This is your chance...what we need you to do is to go for gold next week."

Hunter residents, including people in priority categories 1a and 1b who were stripped of their schedule vaccinations, have had no news as to when, where or how they will receive their jabs, Mr Conroy said.

"They are treating our region like dirt. They stole our vaccines ... and they are bragging about this 'you beaut' system in place for HSC students in Sydney, but for people with significant health conditions to lose their jab and then have no information about when they are getting it, it's beyond the pale."

Federal Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon said people in the community were 'furious'. ''There are lots of residents contacting my office, trying to access the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Finder website but it keeps crashing," she said. "We are 17 months into this pandemic - this should not be happening.

"Because of the low vaccination rate and slow rollout, communities are continuously going into lockdown. The heart of this problem is the inadequate supply of vaccines. There are plenty of people who want to get vaccinated, but they can't..."

Community leaders also renewed their calls to put an end to loop holes, with people still moving between Greater Sydney and the Hunter region, including Port Stephens MP Kate Washington.

"Everybody wants this seven day lockdown to end in seven days, however, the connection we have with Greater Sydney is very different to an area like Orange which we've been equated to," she said.

"Orange can become an island and we can't - and we've seen that with the loopholes in the health orders that have allowed a lot of movement between Greater Sydney and us since Sydney's lockdown was put in place.

"There's also a loophole about having two residences - now, that one is something that has been of great concern in Port Stephens - this is where people have their second residence and people have been moving to and from Greater Sydney and Port Stephens.

"Absolutely need to close those. We have been raising them for ages and they haven't been."

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