The NSW Perrottet Government publishes a very basic update of COVID-19 infection statistics once every 7 days and it releases a weekly epidemiological report whenever it feels in the mood.
So the only NSW Respiratory Surveillance Report-weekly epidemiology summary currently available which contains data on new infections, hospitalisation and basic mortality demographics, only covers the period 1-7 January 2023.
In that particular 7 days only two out of the 15 state local health districts did not record a death due to COVID-19, these were the Far West and Northern NSW.
Of the total 92 deaths of people (aged between 30-39 years & 90+ years) recorded between 1-7 January, 36 were aged care residents (14 of these people died in hospital and 22 died at an aged care facility), 7 people diagnosed with COVID-19 prior to death died at home and presumably the remaining 49 died in local public hospitals.
The following graphics show that while infection and hospitalisation numbers are falling in the first three weeks of 2023 the death toll continues to mount.
Graphics via @NSWHealth
The total number of deaths included in these four graphs represent 352 people.
The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 January 2023:
Everyone dies. But last year in NSW, far more people than usual did. Every single week up to September, dozens more deaths were reported than the state’s average. The cause is no secret: a rapidly ageing population combined with the ongoing impact of the pandemic.
But behind those numbers stands a colossal and often misunderstood industry that deals with everything from palliative care and burials to cremation and counselling.
And under immense pressure, 2022 changed it forever.
Crematorium operators spent the year dealing with a “high volume” of requests, funeral directors have been forced to increase their services and, as if to prove bureaucracy stays with you to the grave, the city’s cemeteries are set to be full within 10 years.
Guardian Funerals, a giant provider of funerals across the state, said they assisted “more families than ever before in 2022 and as we have commenced 2023, there continues to be an increased demand for our services.”….. [my yellow highlighting]
It’s only now, after a few years of increased focus on dying, that the public is experiencing what those in the industry have known for decades: when it comes to dealing with death, Sydney is headed for a crisis.
