Te Kaika could soon ramp up its Covid-19 testing capacity in the centre of Oamaru.
Since February 19, the drive-through testing centre at Awamoa Park has been open from Wednesday to Sunday, 9am to 4pm.
Te Kaika Oamaru clinical lead Gillian Bartrum said between rapid antigen tests (Rats) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, the Oamaru centre was distributing tests to, and testing, more than 300 people each day. Rats and PCR tests were free — Rats were distributed to household contacts and anyone who was symptomatic, Ms Bartrum said.
Numbers visiting the Awamoa Park centre fluctuated depending on the time of day and day of the week, and some days more than 600 people had come through for testing, she said.
"With the change to rapid antigen testing, we have seen a large increase in testing.
"We still offer PCR tests and triage people as to which test they require."
As of 11.59pm Thursday, there were 240 cases of Covid-19 in the Waitaki district. Opening the Oamaru testing centre seven days a week was something Te Kaika was "interested in looking at", Ms Bartrum said.
"We aim to be responsive to the needs of the wider Oamaru community while maintaining relationships we hold with those that we share the space with."
Te Kaika is advertising job vacancies for community clinical swabbers and healthcare assistants in Oamaru, to join the team of three to four staff in the North Otago town at present.
"We . . . have been really happy with the response received from the community to our employment advertisements," she said.
On Mondays and Tuesdays, when the Oamaru centre was closed, Ms Bartrum said anyone who needed access to testing — whether symptomatic or a household contact — could order free Rats from the Ministry of Health’s website and collect them from the North End Pharmacy, which was the Oamaru collection point.
