THE Rural City of Wangaratta has reached the 90 per cent COVID vaccine first dose barrier, as the reality of the region's COVID situation continued to sink in over the weekend.
Wangaratta now boasts a 91.2 per cent first dose vaccination record, while 61.7 per cent of our 15 years and older population have received their second dose.
Two positive cases were added to the rural city's ledger over the weekend, leaving Wangaratta with three active cases, all of whom remain in isolation.
The rural city's first tier one exposure site was also listed on Sunday, with all who attended Country Buddies daycare centre last Wednesday between 6:30am and 5pm urged to get tested and isolate for 14 days.
Country Buddies operations manager Cath Healey estimated around 95 per cent of her staff were present at the tier one site, caring for almost 90 children, all of whom will need to isolate for 14 days.
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She said all but one of her staff had received their first dose of a vaccine, while around half were double dosed.
"It's been a bit hectic and stressful for everybody," she told the Wangaratta Chronicle.
"You see the light at the end of the tunnel and then this happens.
"Between the staff, the children, their parents and their close contacts, you could easily say there were 1000 people needing to be tested."
A deep clean of the building was set to finish today, with an eye to reopening on October 14, pending advice from both the Department of Health and Department of Education.
Ms Healey said communication with the departments had been "interesting," after authorities initially advised those who attended on the subsequent Thursday and Friday to get tested and isolate.
"It's a massive investigation process, and they're so inundated at the minute – I scrolled the tier one list this morning and it goes on forever," she said.
"We released all the information we could with sign–ins and QR codes early on Saturday afternoon, and then we tried to get information out to our community.
"It can be a very confusing system – I'm learning a lot in the last three or four days."
According to Ms Healey, all staff had since tested negative over the weekend.
On Monday, Wangaratta Sports and Aquatic Centre (WSAC) also closed, after concerns arose when an individual visited the premises after coming into contact with a positive patient.
Sports, aquatics and events precinct manager Penny Hargrave said the decision to close had been informed by an "abundance of caution" in an attempt to limit any potential exposure, after the patron promptly contacted WSAC administrators following correspondence with the Department of Health.
Ms Hargrave said the individual had later returned a negative test result on Monday night, allowing the centre to reopen as normal yesterday morning.
"The individual was terrific, as soon as they knew, they were in contact with us," she said.
"We shut down the building as a precaution, so we could limit any potential exposure.
"We took an abundance of caution, and we would do it again."
Ms Hargrave said Northeast Health Wangaratta (NHW) had provided WSAC with advice to close as they awaited test results, which were fast–tracked due to exposure concerns.
"The testing centre was fabulous," she said.
"The way they fast–tracked it and got it through was fantastic – they're all so helpful at NHW.
"If we do face these concerns again, we've got a brilliant team in Wangaratta."
Victoria recorded the highest number of locally acquired cases of any state yesterday, the 1763 new cases an Australian record during the ongoing pandemic.
State chief health officer Brett Sutton confirmed on Monday future tier two exposure sites would not be published on the coronavirus website, as the State Government looked to place focus on identifying highest–risk tier one sites going forward.
More than 1000 people have undergone COVID screening in Wangaratta since Saturday, as the showgrounds testing clinic was reopened to account for increased demand.
Testing will remain at the Showgrounds until further notice, with entry available via Evans Street between the hours of 8am and 4:30pm.
