NSW Police are looking into a “suspicious” fire at a COVID-19 testing clinic in Sydney’s Western Suburbs last night.
At about 10:50 pm last night, NSW Police were alerted to reports of a fire at a COVID-19 testing centre on Forrester Road, North St Marys. When they arrived, officers from Nepean Police Area Command found “a demountable building well alight”, as well as “anti-government and anti-COVID” graffiti on the walls.
According to the ABC, some of it read: “COVID-19 is a lie. People wake up now. Fight the system. Revolt.
“Fuck the system, fuck Gladys.”
It’s unclear who exactly was behind the fire but Police are treating it as suspicious. Fortunately, no testing swabs were destroyed in the fire and the clinic will resume operations as normal.
Speaking to reporters this morning, Nepean Police Area Command Crime Manager Detective Inspector Jason Pietruszka said they believe that only one person is involved and that “they’re very likely to do it again.”
“To be perfectly honest, obviously I think they’re quite ridiculous and quite pointless to engage in such conduct.
“To make such comments, and to engage in such activity is criminal and will be seriously frowned upon by the courts when that person is put before them.
“It’s also very damaging to the community who rely on this testing clinic to assist with the health message and with their own health.”
Speaking at today’s NSW press conference, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that reports of the alleged arson on an essential part of NSW Health’s response to COVID were “disappointing”.
“It is always disappointing when people ignore health advice or pretend that COVID-19 is not serious,” she said.
“A number of people do have those views and demonstrate them from time to time and that is the threat of Delta.”
While it’s currently unclear who exactly was behind last night’s fire, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that they may be related to the anti-lockdown protests happening across the country.
Nevertheless, to the person behind last night’s alleged arson attack on a COVID-19 testing clinic and believes that “COVID-19 is a lie”, what do you have to say to the 813 people with COVID currently admitted to the hospital? The 126 of them that are in intensive care and the 54 of them that need ventilation? COVID-19 is not a hoax, it’s a global health crisis.
If you really want to “wake up” from this nightmare, your best way out of this locked-down snooze is to get vaccinated.
All adult Aussies (yep, even if those of us under 40) are currently able to get the safe and effective AstraZeneca vaccine through a GP. Click here to see which clinics are offering it, and talk to a doctor to see if it’s right for you.
Alternatively, you can triple-check to see if you’re eligible for the Pfizer vaccine here.
The best vaccine is the first one you can get, and that’ll be our ticket out of this mess.
