Arvind Jolly hopes to be reunited with his family for Christmas — testing delays and grounded flights might dash hopes

Christmas day could be a sombre occasion for some families this year as their loved ones struggle to jump through several hoops just to get home.

Most states require visitors to return a negative PCR test within 72 hours before arriving and this has seen people flock to testing sites and wait times balloon. 

With soaring cases in most states and territories and thousands of close and casual contacts requiring PCR tests, facilities buckled under pressure.

On top of that, at least 80 domestic flights were cancelled across all airlines at Sydney Airport on Christmas Eve due to staff shortages. 

‘Really frustrating and stressful’

The Jolly family in Brisbane spent the last two days sweating on the test results of family in New South Wales. 

“It is really, really frustrating and stressful. We haven’t seen our grandchild in close to a year,” Arvind Jolly said.

Mr Jolly’s daughter Disha, his two-year-old granddaughter and his son-in-law attempted to get PCR tests in Sydney this week so the three of them could fly to Brisbane on December 25.

The trio were repeatedly knocked back from several clinics which were either closed or at capacity, until Disha was finally able to get tested on December 23.

Mr Jolly and his family were still waiting on test results to come back on Thursday night so they could satisfy the Queensland government’s travel requirements. 

“We were hoping everything was going to be all good with the border opening on the 17th and we’d be together for Christmas,” he said.

The grandfather said he was frustrated PCR tests were still required for fully vaccinated travellers into Queensland.

Recently, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk suggested rapid antigen tests may be used from next month. 

He said he felt the Queensland government’s testing requirements were unnecessary and needlessly keeping families apart over Christmas.

“If [Queensland] can use rapid antigen tests from January 1, why couldn’t we use them for Christmas to allow families to be together? It doesn’t make any sense to me,” he said.

Victorians’ plans dashed at airport 

At Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport on Friday, a paid PCR testing service stopped testing domestic travellers due to “unprecedented demand”.

Many passengers who were in danger of missing out on their flights due to the long delays at state-run free testing sites were relying on the express service.

This week, Victoria’s COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said there was “significant demand” for testing from interstate travellers, with more than a quarter of the state’s tests being processed for travel purposes.

SA testing options not accessible 

Over in South Australia, wait times for PCR tests blew out to eight hours recently, prompting the introduction of rapid antigen testing (RAT) on Friday.

SA health said the RAT screening tool, for people without symptoms, will help reduce the burden on drive-in sites and pathology labs.

But for those with COVID-19 symptoms, a PCR test is still required.

Amanda*, who lives in Adelaide’s western suburbs and does not drive due to disability, said meeting this requirement is unnecessarily challenging for people like her.

“I have faced barriers to getting tested due to not having a car,” she said.

“In South Australia, it’s almost impossible to be tested unless you have a car.

The 37-year-old, who has had three vaccine doses, said few sites in the western suburbs accept walk-ins.

With demand for PCR tests blowing out wait times, she said walking through traffic and exhaust fumes puts herself and others at risk.

“They need to make at-home testing more accessible, for people who really can’t get to a testing site.”

Amanda said not knowing if she can access a PCR test before Christmas has impacted her mental health.

“I want to do things, but I don’t want to be caught out in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.

* Amanda requested anonymity for this story.

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