The Herald's View: Use our gold-standard COVID-19 testing more selectively
The COVID-19 pandemic demands healthcare resources are used in the most efficient way possible. But at the moment precious capacity is being squandered on unnecessary testing.
Resources tied up in unnecessary testing need to be deployed elsewhere. As health reporter Rachel Clun: “Surely providing booster shots to the vulnerable, the elderly and our frontline workers is a better use of public healthcare workers’ time than performing COVID-19 tests for people who don’t have symptoms but just want a weekend in Noosa.”
As Health Minister Brad Hazzard said on Thursday: “If you haven’t got symptoms or haven’t received a message telling you that you must have a PCR test, you probably don’t need to have a PCR test. And certainly, if you’re going visiting over the next few days, please don’t go out and just get a PCR test for the sake of it.”.