BATHURST Correctional Centre is "well and truly on top" of its contact tracing and testing after an inmate was found to have COVID last week, according to Western NSW Local Health District chief executive officer Scott McLachlan.
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Corrective Services confirmed last Friday that a 29-year-old man who had arrived at the jail last Wednesday as a fresh custody inmate had returned a positive test to the virus.
Corrective Services said inmates are tested for COVID as they arrive in custody as a precaution and the man had been in a single cell since coming to the facility.
In his update on Monday afternoon, Mr McLachlan said the health district had a close relationship with corrections staff.
He said Bathurst Correctional Centre had stopped transferring or accepting inmates from other locations due to the threat of COVID.
"They have been well and truly on top of all of the contact tracing and testing that's needed to happen for staff and other inmates," he said.
Mr McLachlan was asked about Bathurst still not having an official active case of COVID even though the jail inmate had been confirmed as having the virus.
He said the cases are identified based on where they normally live.
Mr McLachlan was also asked about Bathurst's Subway restaurant in William Street being listed as a venue of concern for a 40-minute period on Saturday, August 7.
Its listing as a venue of concern wasn't made official until Sunday, more than seven days afterwards.
He said the notification for some venues of concern takes longer than others.
"We've got a dedicated team that works on both the case contact tracing and the locations of concern and helping us to appreciate what's the potential exposure for people that come into a facility and potentially have contact with other people that might have the opportunity to spread COVID.
"That sometimes takes us a couple of days to work through - the layout of the facility, the number of people that come in and out, how long they were in there for and whether the person worked there or were just a visitor to the facility."
The vast majority of those come back within 24 hours, he said, but some of the more complex ones are "where the contact tracing takes a longer period of time, and then the facility assessment takes a longer period of time".
"We apologise that they're not available immediately, but if I can really ask everyone, keep an eye on those locations of concern on the NSW Health website," he said.
"Check that regularly."
