Wagga's Inspire Church was listed as a COVID-19 exposure site on Thursday morning, becoming the first local venue of concern to be listed by NSW Health in weeks after the reporting process was changed.
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In recent weeks NSW Health has opted to alert people exposed to COVID-19 directly via the Service NSW app, rather than list exposure sites publicly.
However, the Inspire Church was publicly listed as an exposure site on Thursday, with anyone who attended the building on Sunday, October 31 between 10.45am and 12.30pm considered a casual contact and directed to have a COVID test.
The Murrumbidgee Local Health District's COVID-19 coordinator Emma Field said it was "a benefit to the community" for it to be announced this way, while Inspire's Pastor Brennan McMartin said the messaging has been unnecessarily confusing.
Ms Field said that only people who attended the church between 10.45am and 12.30pm on October 31 are required to get a test, while anyone else at the venue that day just need to monitor for symptoms.
She added that people there within the timeframe are considered casual contacts, "but there are some people that may be considered close contacts and they will have been followed up with by the public health unit".
"For everyone else if you have not received a text ... that's why this has gone out to the media; let us know by coming forward and getting tested," Ms Field added.
Pastor McMartin said there was a lot of confusion when the church was announced as an exposure site, with people who attended on Sunday outside the specified timeframe incorrectly notified.
He said they feel singled-out as a church being labelled a high-risk site, especially because they can welcome vaccinated and unvaccinated people through their doors.
"It does feel a bit discriminative and name-shaming," Pastor McMartin said.
"We do understand and we've done everything we can do abide by the rules," he added, with the church thoroughly cleaned after each service.
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Both the MLHD and Pastor McMartin were unable to say how many people were in attendance at the 11am service.
Pastor McMartin encouraged any concerned church-goers to get in touch with NSW Health, and assured that services will return as normal this weekend in a COVIDSafe environment.
On Thursday the MLHD reported 36 new cases of COVID-19, including 31 in Albury, two in the Greater Hume LGA and Griffith LGA, and one in Lockhart.
Ms Field said that many of these are household contacts to previous cases, and said it's a "good sign" many have a known link.
Meanwhile, the MLHD has defended its decision to close the Equex Centre COVID testing site on Friday, as 11 people in Wagga have been diagnosed with the virus since last Monday and cases continue to be reported across the District.
Ms Field said that the Murray Street testing clinic will still be operating with a "very large" capacity for testing that is not currently being met, and that the Equex Centre site will close from Friday night at 6pm.
Ms Field said Wagga was identified as an area with "direct demand" for testing, and the site was established overnight.
"We always knew that it was not a permanent testing facility, however the public can be absolutely assured that even though we ... will be ceasing that clinic at the Equex Centre we always have plans if we need to surge up for another drive through," she said.
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