Urgent Covid alert for a popular Sydney gym after 15 vaccinated patrons visit while infected or catch the virus while working out – plunging hundreds into isolation
- City Gym, Darlinghurst, was listed as a Covid-19 exposure site on Wednesday
- NSW Health confirmed 15 Covid cases were linked to the inner-city gym
- Alerts have been issued for certain times between October 18 and 25
- Anyone who visited the gym during listed times must get tested and self-isolate
Hundreds of workout fanatics have been plunged into isolation after 15 Covid infections were linked to a popular Sydney gym.
Patrons who trained at City Gym in Darlinghurst on October 18 to 25 were ordered to get tested and self-isolate until they receive a negative result.
NSW Health said the confirmed cases either trained at the gym while infectious or caught the virus while there. All gym patrons must be vaccinated.
Executive Director of City Gym in Darlinghurst, Billy Kokkinis, said the news of the new cases had come as a ‘complete shock’.
Patrons who trained at City Gym in Darlinghurst, Sydney, on October 18 to 25 were ordered to get tested and self-isolate until they receive a negative result
Mr Kokkinis told The Daily Telegraph three health inspectors visited the premises on Tuesday claiming it was the ‘cleanest gym’ they had been to so far.
‘Their health and safety are my priority, and it’s disappointing that NSW Health could not afford me the same candid communication,’ he said.
‘You can’t tell me one day that we’re the cleanest gym and then the next day tell me we’re a hotspot.
He said he was shocked to learn his gym had become the latest Covid-19 hotspot after his staff and members took precautionary measures to follow health guidelines.
‘We have been in undeviating contact with the NSW Health department, meticulously following their instruction regarding our Covid safe practices, procedures and updates,’ Mr Kokkinis said.
The gym owner also claimed NSW Health previously apologised for a technical error involving alerts of false Covid positive cases attending the venue.
Under current NSW Covid-19 restrictions only double-jabbed residents can train inside Sydney gyms
‘Our case manager even apologised to us for a ‘glitch’ in their system when they repeatedly sent false messages to isolate and get tested,’ Mr Kokkinis said.
He added the system error lead to unwarranted anxiety and uncertainty from gym members as he was left to rectify the mistake.
NSW recorded 304 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases and three deaths, including a patient in their 30s, on Wednesday.
Service NSW app does not automatically notify users if they have visited a Covid exposure site – meaning thousands of residents may have no idea they were at risk.
Over 700,000 case alerts raised by NSW Health in the past month may have gone unnoticed as they do not appear on a phone’s home screen as a push notification.
Users can check the ‘history’ section of the Service NSW app to see whether any of the venues they have been to are confirmed exposure sites.
NSW Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello said the state government was not planning on incorporating push alerts into the app until December 1.
As of September, users can scroll through their history on the Covid Safe Check-In service to see if any of their locations are listed with a red ‘Covid-19 case alert’ icon.
From September 30 to October 25, NSW Health said it published more than 700,000 case alerts.
Mr Dominello said push notifications would become more necessary in the coming months when traditional contact tracing methods are scaled back and Australia begins to live with the virus.
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