FRONTLINE COVID-19 testers have received thanks from senior doctors at Bendigo Health, for their hard work performing hundreds of tests.
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Bendigo's drive through testing facility swabbed more than 500 people on Saturday, as demand soared from Friday.
Test numbers had peaked at roughly 150-180 per day previously.
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When the Bendigo Advertiser visited on Saturday about 1pm, queues stretched out of the carpark. Demand had dropped by the same time Sunday.
Senior Medical Group chair Becky Chapman said the group wanted to thank staff at the testing stations, including nurses, helpers and traffic controllers.
The Senior Medical Group is made up of consultants at Bendigo Health.
Dr Chapman said testers had been working hard, at a repetitive job, but the information gleaned was imperative.
"We're very grateful. They won't be seen as heroes, like people working on the frontline in other aspects, but they're incredibly important for us to find out how big the problem is," Dr Chapman said.
"For them to do this for many hours a day, it must be quite difficult to do it well and consistently when it's quite repetitive, and it's pretty cold out there, and some people are grumpy because they've been waiting."
Demand for testing came after a Don KR Castlemaine worker and social contact tested positive for COVID-19.
Five COVID-19 cases were linked to the Castlemaine facility by Sunday.
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