More people are being tested for COVID-19 every day in Wagga than the government's lab in the city can process, with samples being sent further afield for analysis in a bid to keep up with demand.
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The Wagga lab has the capacity to process 350 tests per day, a spokesperson for NSW Health Pathology confirmed, and is now prioritising hospital emergency department presentees, inpatients and healthcare workers as it is inundated with tests.
The Murrumbidgee Local Health District's [MLHD] clinics at Wagga Showground and in Murray Street collected an average of 560 to 600 tests each day last week.
Some members of the community are into their second week of waiting for a result, with one woman reporting she had received a call from a lab saying they had received her sample a week later, but still no result eight days after a test.
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NSW Health Pathology could not confirm the current turnaround for tests collected in Wagga, which the MLHD has previously indicated could take four or five days.
"Our turnaround times for results have increased due to the Omicron outbreak, record demand for testing and increased positive cases," she said.
Almost 400 samples were taken on Wednesday and Thursday even as the city was drenched in heavy storms, prompting the early closure of the Showground site over safety concerns.
More than 100 tests had been completed when it closed, Tina Curry from MLHD's COVID response team said.
"For the safety of staff and community members we closed the drive through clinic early," Ms Curry said.
"Our Showground staff relocated to the Murray Street testing clinic and everyone lined up was redirected down to Murray Street to have their tests completed."
NSW Health Pathology acknowledged community concerns samples are being sent out of the city as it deals with the overwhelming scale of testing.
"The Omicron surge and significant increase in positive cases means pooling samples, which improves turnaround times for results, is no longer an option and laboratories must now test each sample individually," the spokesperson said.
"Our Wagga laboratory sends some samples to Westmead to help with surges in demand as part of our statewide network of laboratories."
This has also happened previously in the pandemic, they confirmed.
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