End of an era - St Vincent's Bondi COVID-19 testing clinic to close

27 Jun 2022

Set up in under 24 hours, the Bondi Pavilion ‘pop-up’ clinic was mobilised to respond to a surge of COVID-19 positive cases in the Bondi Beach area. Opening its doors on April 1st 2020, it attracted news from across the globe. Sydney’s famous Bondi was now known for more than its sandy white beach and clear blue waters.

It was supposed to be temporary, but the pandemic was only getting started. The team soon outgrew the Pavilion, a single car lane shelter was erected, and St Vincent’s were welcomed in to the Bondi community. Vinnies Swab Squad felt the local love, and were fed and caffeinated by local businesses who were grateful for our commitment to keeping the community safe.

As the pandemic rolled on, the community need grew exponentially, and the original Bondi Drive-thru was replaced with a much larger drive-thru shelter, equipped to carry four lanes of traffic at once.

In the height of the pandemic, the clinic was taking nearly 4,000 swabs a day. In total, the Bondi Swab Squad took almost 342,000 swabs.

But as we move to a Covid normal world, St Vincent’s Bondi Drive-thru will cease operations, officially closing its virtual doors on Thursday 30th June, 2022.

Thank you to everyone involved in the Bondi testing site, in all of its iterations. The planners, the Swab Squads, the couriers, security, transport, traffic control and of course the entire SydPath team.

Finally, we thank Waverly Council for their incredible partnership and support, as well as the Bondi local community for making us so welcome.

Video: Farewell Bondi COVID-19 testing clinic - YouTube