NSW Health incorrectly listed Crossroads Hotel (the centre of a cluster in 2020) as an exposure site instead of Crossways Hotel yesterday. The department has now issued a statement in response to the mixup.
NSW Health previously listed Crossroads Hotel, Casula as a COVID-19 exposure site, advising it as a venue of concern that had been visited by a confirm COVID-19 case. The correct venue of concern is actually the similarly named Crossways Hotel, in Strathfield.
“Please note that anyone who attended Crossroads Hotel in Casula is not a close contact,” the statement read.
Some people are angry at the states incompetence, and expressed that “now is not the time to be making mistakes like this.”
I realise @NSWHealth might be under a lot of pressure right now, but now is not the time to making mistakes like this, the public are relying on NSW Health to do their job, they stuff up the whole State stuffs up #COVID19nsw
— Linda Hardy🌳🧬 (@LindaAHardy) June 27, 2021
Others are calling for compassion, as contact tracers are currently racing to find any close contacts as the Sydney cluster continues to grow exponentially.
Which is why all that flak that Victoria received for the whole Woolworths Epping issue was so horrid.
Contact tracers are human, they make mistakes. Same here, they’re doing their best.
Can’t we just stop politicising the pandemic and hope for the best for everyone?
— Adele (@AdeleTweets19) June 27, 2021
This isn’t the first time there’s been a mistake in contract-tracing that has lead to the wrong venue being listed as an exposure site. In Victoria, there was a mixup between two different Woolworths, one in Epping and one in Epping North. However, Victorian officials put this mistake down to an error on the individual’s electronic banking app transaction receipt.
For those of you wondering how on earth this mistake was made (I mean, aside from the fact the venues have pretty similar names), Crossroads Hotel in Casula *was* at some point an exposure site this time last year, when there was a Crossroads Hotel cluster. So while any mistake with listing COVID exposure sites is shitty and stressful, this one isn’t completely random.
This morning, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed that there were 30 positive cases of COVID-19 as of 8pm last night, bringing the Bondi cluster to 110. NSW Health understands, were in the community while still infectious.
For an updated list of current NSW exposure sites head here.
