Oliver Brown
26 August 2021, 9:00 PM
More pop-up testing and COVID-19 vaccination clinics are on the way for Gulargambone to help keep the township's small cluster of COVID-19 cases under control, including one later today (Friday 27 August).
The town had its first-ever positive case of COVID-19 identified over the weekend with a second positive case being confirmed in the early part of the week.
The Gulargambone Post Office on Wednesday 18 August from 3.25-4pm and the Gulargambone Bowling Club on Thursday 19 August from 5.25-5.40pm have also been identified as venues of concern.
As part of yesterday's (26 August) daily COVID update, Chief Executive of the Western NSW Local Health District Scott McLachlan confirmed the cases were being treated in isolation.
"As far as I know, both the cases are still being cared for in the home - no doubt there's people in isolation and families in isolation with those people," he said.
"This is a time for us all to show some love and understanding for people across all of our communities - getting advised you've got COVID is a pretty scary thing for anyone and for the families around it.
"So it's not time for social media attacks, it's not time for people to know every detail about where they've been, what they've been doing.
"The numbers aren't the important thing - how we care for people and come together as a community is just so important at the moment."
Currently, Gulargambone residents must travel about half-an-hour to either Gilgandra or Coonamble to get tested for COVID-19
However, according to WNSWLHD, there will be a pop-up testing clinic organised at the local Multi-Purpose Health Service on Wednesday 1 September to try and identify any other cases that might be present in the community.
More vaccination opportunities are also on the way for the township with the Royal Flying Doctor Service setting up a free Pfizer vaccination clinic today (Friday 27 August), from 10.30am-2.30pm.
"The clinic will be set up in the park beside the Castlereagh Highway, opposite Ferguson’s Store," Coonamble Shire Council General Manager Hein Basson said.
"Those wishing to receive their vaccination should bring their Medicare card. No booking is required. Please come prepared with food and drink, just in case the queue is long."
Mr Basson asked residents to only attend the clinic if they and everyone in their household is well and not showing any signs of COVID-19 or are waiting on a test result.
In addition, the free Pfizer vaccination clinic currently available in the Coonamble Bowling Club - set up by Loxley Health in partnership with WNSWLHD - will be travelling to Gulargambone after Sunday August 29.
According to a WNSWLHD spokesperson, it will be a walk-in Pfizer clinic and operating on Monday 30 August from 11am-6pm and on Tuesday 31 August from 11am-4pm. A venue for this clinic is yet to be announced.
Both vaccination clinics will be available to everyone aged 16 years and over, or 12 years and over if of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island descent.