‘Think they’ve peaked’: GP says worst of Mornington Peninsula COVID outbreak is likely over

The doctor who oversees COVID-19 testing at the Rosebud Respiratory Clinic says cases in the region appear to have peaked.

Dr Sally Shaw says the clinic was having to turn people away due to overwhelming demand for testing at the height of the outbreak.

“On the 6th of January we were seeing 1000 people a day and turning people away in the queue, and now we’re seeing about 300,” she told Ross and Russel.

But Dr Shaw says the state government’s policy change to include positive rapid antigen tests as “probable” COVID-19 cases partially explains the drop in demand for PCR tests.

“You have to realise a lot of people are getting rapid tests,” she said.

Last week, a staggering 28 of the 30 admin staff at the Rosebud clinic had COVID-19.

“We had to ring them and say ‘Do you know anyone?’ and they all sent down their little brothers, or big brothers, or friends, and I think we had two staff who knew what they were doing,” she said.

“The staffing is still a massive issue and I’m still seeing quite a few shops either open part time or have a sign up saying ‘please be patient we’ve got limited staff’.”

Press PLAY below to hear more about the COVID-19 surge on the Mornington Peninsula