Margaret River COVID-19 clinic to open

A drive-through COVID-19 clinic is set to open in the Margaret River on Monday 21 February 2022 to support increased testing capacity for the region. Located to the rear the Margaret River HEART building, the clinic will operate 9am to 1pm on weekdays. Traffic will be able to queue around the eastern side of Gloucester Park Main Oval with vehicle access to come from Shepherdson Road (the oval entry point from Station Road, next to Mitre 10).  Shire of Augusta Margaret River Shire President Paula Cristoffanini said she expected the community would be pleased to hear that COVID-19 testing was going to become easier to access. “Our local hospitals are identified testing sites, however, they are under significant and growing load now that COVID-19 is emerging in our state,” she said. “This purpose-specific clinic is going to exponentially increase testing capacity for our region. “It’s going to save unwell people travelling to Busselton to access their drive-through clinic.” Cr Cristoffanini said it was inevitable our community would be impacted by COVID-19 and the Shire was working with key stakeholders to support preparedness. “We have had some close calls with a number of infected people visiting local places,’ she said. “It’s become not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’. “There are a lot of learnings for us from other Australian states and we want to be ready as we can be for when COVID-19 arrives in our community.” Clinipath Pathology Business Development Manager Jennifer Bolton-Gibbs said the testing site in Margaret River provides a local testing centre in the Shire and as well as taking pressure off the staff at the Busselton COVID-19 Drive-Through Clinic.  “We discovered there was a scarcity of a suitable commercial spaces when investigating testing options in Margaret River,” she said. “We have only been able to provide this new service because of the Shire's commitment and cooperation and are pleased to be able to provide a local service to the Shire community." Cr Cristoffanini encouraged the community to stay-to-date with COVID-19 testing information at https://www.healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/A_E/Coronavirus/COVID19-testing and https://www.clinipathpathology.com.au/patients/covid-testing/