People in Melbourne are claiming that they’re not being notified of having attended an exposure site after the Service Victoria app allegedly failed to record their QR check-in.
TikToker @becislame was having a cheeky boogie at the Thursgay event at Yah Yah’s in Fitzroy last Thursday night with some friends and what appears to be the entire population of the suburb’s alt-fashion queers.
On the following Sunday (December 5), she received a text from one of her pals who went to the club with her asking if she had received a text message from the Victorian Government.
@becislame #stitch with @becislame anyway hope you all enjoy my little rant #dhhs #melbourne #yahyahs #covid19
According to the screenshot in the TikTok, which was allegedly sent by her mate, the text read: “This is a message from the Victorian Department of Health. You may have been exposed to COVID-19 at this location – Yah Yah’s – Fitzroy on 2/12/2021.”
In the TikTok, which she put up six days after going to Yah Yah’s – and three days after her friend was notified – Bec still hadn’t received a message from Victorian Health.
“If it was just me, I’d say it’s a mistake, that’s understandable,” she said.
“My mate asked all of the people that we went in a little group with [and] only two out of the five of us received any form of communication from the government about this situation.
“I also asked another friend of mine who I met there if she had received any form of communication about it and she also said no.”
The lack of communication from the state’s Department of Health appears to be due to a technical error with the Service Victoria app. Bec, along with others in the comments on her TikTok, claims that the venue isn’t listed on her app’s check-in history, despite allegedly checking in to Yah Yah’s at the door.
“Anyone who’s been to Thursgays or Yah Yah’s will know that as soon as you get there they watch you check-in and show them your vaccine certificate,” she said.
“Once you’ve done both, they give you a stamp. It’s the only way you can go in.
“The fact that so many people who attended don’t know that it was even an exposure site is absolutely ridiculous,” she added.
“The fact that I wouldn’t have known if my mate wouldn’t have told me is also ridiculous.
“I should be able to go on a night out, check-in the way I’ve been told to and be able to get that information back if something like this does happen. It’s not the venue’s fault – they did everything right.
“I just think it’s a bit ridiculous if we’re told to do something and we do it, that it doesn’t even work?”
“Oh my gosh, I thought that was just me and my friend,” commented Tilly, another person who attended Yah Yah’s that night.
“[We] were like, ‘[I] guess we messed up checking in’ even though I’m so careful checking in.”
Another user alleged that they encountered a similar issue after attending Sircuit Bar, which is also in Fitzroy. They signed in but noticed afterwards that the sign-in wasn’t listed on their app’s history.
“I thought maybe I was too drunk and didn’t do it properly but now I’m glad I’m not the only one,” they said.
Over in Sydney, there appears to be a similar miscommunication between public health officials and those that attended an exposure site.
On Wednesday night, the Sydney Local Health District revealed that the Oxford Tavern in Petersham on the 30th of November between 4pm and 10:30pm was an exposure site following a pub trivia event there. At the time of writing, it is believed that 44 people who attended the venue during that time and date have tested positive with COVID-19, but it’s unclear whether the cases are of the Omicron variant.
There’s a bit of confusion around when attendees were contacted but based on the date of this post, it appears that may have been at least a week delay between the exposure and the alert.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Victorian Health and NSW Health to explain the delayed communication and why some people are not being informed of exposure sites despite checking in with the respective state’s apps.
