Showing posts with label public health response. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public health response. Show all posts

Thursday 25 November 2021

Northern NSW starved of timely relevant COVD-19 information by Perrottet Government

 


Byron Bay local government area
IMAGE: .idcommunity 



Byron Bay local government area covers 566.6 sq kms with an est. resident population of 35,773 men, women and children and a population density of 63.13 person per sq km.

 


As of 14 November 2021 only 78.7% of the population 16 years of age and older were fully vaccinated. On 21 November the fully vaccinated rate had risen to 80.9%.


On 17 November 2021in NSW postcode 2481 NSW Health recorded a confirmed COVID-19 case in the Byron Bay local government area. The source of the individual’s infection is listed as “Overseas”. Presumably that person entered Northern NSW sometime on the afternoon of 16 November 2021.


On the same date another confirmed case for NSW postcode 2483 in the Byron Bay local government area was recorded and the source of that individual’s infection was listed as “interstate”


On 19 November 2021 in NSW postcode 2481 NSW Health recorded a confirmed COVID-19 case in the Byron Bay local government area.


Then again on 22 November 2021 in NSW postcode 2483 NSW Health recorded a confirmed COVID-19 case in the Byron Bay local government area.


The source of individual infection cannot be determined for 19 & 22 November 2021 confirmed cases because NSW Health has discontinued daily source of infection database updates as of 19 November 2021. At the same time it was announced the daily location of confirmed cases database was also being discontinued.


A Northern NSW Local Health District media release on 24 November revealed a confirmed COVID-19 case recorded for 23 November 2021 which is referred to as “a household contact of an existing case”.


News of the Byron Bay "Aquarius" backpackers hostel lockdown did not become public knowledge until Wednesday 24 November 2021, when the state MLA for Ballina released the information on social media.


Given that NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has previously stated that he not NSW Health will control release of COVID-19 information, one can only assume it is at his direction that rural & regional NSW is being staved of information concerning infection spread within districts, cities, towns and villages.


ABC News, 25 November 2021:


A backpacker hostel in Byron Bay on the NSW north coast has been placed into a snap seven-day lockdown after a positive COVID case and 84 close contacts were identified.


Police confirmed they were "assisting NSW Health at a hostel on Lawson Street in Byron Bay" and have referred any further inquiries to NSW Health.


The ABC has contacted NSW Health but officials there have yet to provide any further information about the operation underway at the backpackers.


News of the positive case came as thousands of school students descended on the north coast for the traditional schoolies celebrations.


Ms Smith says food and health support is being provided to the dozens of guests who are now in lockdown at the backpackers.


Ms Smith posted at statement about the situation to her verified Facebook page on Wednesday night.


"I'm closely monitoring a situation in Byron Bay where a positive COVID-19 case and 84 close contacts have been identified at Aquarius Backpackers in Byron Bay," her statement read.


"Police are monitoring compliance 24/7 over the next seven days.


"My thoughts are with everyone in that situation as it will be a tough time and I will keep checking to make sure that people are getting the support they need."


Tuesday 23 November 2021

NSW Delta Variant Outbreak Update: Lives could have been saved if the NSW Government's Covid-19 Crisis Committee had followed the medical advice it received


After 16 June 2021 when the Delta Variant Outbreak began, the NSW Coalition Government’s COVID-19 Crisis Committee was composed of up to seven permanent members – these included then Premer Gladys Berejiklian, then Deputy-Premier John Barilaro, then Treasurer & now NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, the Minister for Health and Medical Research Brad Hazzard, Member for Penrith & now Deputy-Premier Paul Toole and, the then members of government now ministers in the Perrottet Government Victor Dominello and Stuart Ayres .The state’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kerry Chant advises/makes recommendations to this committee.


It seems what many have long suspected about this committee is true……..


News.com.au, 22 November 2021:


Newly released documents reveal the NSW government ignored health advice to apply the same coronavirus lockdown rules across all of Sydney.


An email sent by NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant to Health Minister Brad Hazzard on August 14 showed she recommended “consistent measures across greater metropolitan Sydney”.


But the extra-tough lockdown rules in Sydney’s west and southwest were not brought in line with the rest of the city until September 20.


A virus expert has said lives could have been saved if the harsher rules were implemented across Sydney instead of just in select areas.


Former premier Gladys Berejiklian, who was leading the state’s pandemic response at the time, consistently argued she was relying on health advice in decisions around the lockdown.


A western Sydney opposition politician said the email proved locals “were right to feel targeted” and called the revelations “absolutely horrific”.


The Government hated it when we pointed to a Tale of Two Cities. They accused us of being political – evidence we were speaking the truth,” Lakemba MP Jihad Dib said on Monday.


When the health advice said one thing, the Government did the other. We were right to feel targeted.”


Sydney’s latest lockdown began in the last weekend of June, after an airport breach caused the Delta variant of the coronavirus to spread in the city.


Although the outbreak began in the eastern suburbs, the spread soon got worse in the city’s west.


By the second week of July, police had begun a crackdown in the western suburbs to make sure locals adhered to the lockdown.


And by the time Dr Chant wrote her August 14 email, the rules had tightened several times in an expanding area of western and southwestern Sydney where the virus was spreading the fastest.


Among the harsher rules was a ban on leaving hotspot LGAs, whereas people in other parts of the city were allowed more freedom of movement.


But the top doctor recommended the rules be made consistent.


Implement consistent measures across greater metropolitan Sydney with outdoor masks, consistent 5km rule and authorised workers only,” she wrote in a list of recommendations.


The email was written at a time when Covid-19 infections were rising fast.


Case numbers are high and escalating and likely to reach 1000 cases a day very quickly ... this is the worst outbreak in Australia during the pandemic,” Dr Chant wrote.


The first recommendation contained in the email was to “intensify the action in western Sydney and Nepean Blue Mountains where case numbers are escalating”.


The same recommendation was made for rural and regional Aboriginal communities, where Dr Chant also wished to see the vaccine rollout prioritised.


She also recommended further restrictions such as a limit on who could take advantage of child care services, closing retail stores further, and reducing “non-essential activity in manufacturing/construction”.


Other recommendations in the email included “1 hour of exercise per day”, “mandate vaccination in aged care, disability, and health care” and “urgently extend the isolation payments to all LGAs of concern”.


Dr Chant also recommended locking down regional NSW, advice which the government heeded within hours of receiving her email.


An epidemiologist shown the health advice on Monday said it was difficult to say exactly what the chief health officer was advocating for based purely on her email.


University of South Australia epidemiology professor Adrian Esterman said it was “ambiguous” as to whether Dr Chant called for western Sydney’s rules to apply across the city.


If I was chief health officer, I would have wanted to come down hard across the whole of greater Sydney,” he said.


They would have had a much better chance of driving down numbers, and secondly, they would have avoided stigmatising people in those western suburbs.”


Professor Esterman also said lives could have been saved if all of Sydney had been locked down harder.


Of course, if you cut down cases you cut down on deaths,” he said.


Governments have terrible decisions to make, do we close up and kill the economy? Or do we open and accept there are going to be deaths and people who get seriously ill? It‘s a horrible equation.”.


Dr Chant has previously testified to a parliamentary committee she would give a mix of verbal and written advice to the government.


The government had kept most of her health advice secret until Labor MPs recently managed to access parts of it through an order in parliament…..


The curfew was in place in the western Sydney hotspots from August 23 to September 25, and prevented people in those areas from leaving their homes between 9pm and 5am.


Another email released to parliament showed Dr Chant had recommended a curfew as early as July 29, although she specified it would be to achieve a “messaging effect” and underscore the importance of complying with the other rules that were in place.


A curfew should be considered for the messaging effect as we need to signal the absolute urgency of the current situation with strong compliance presence,” Dr Chant wrote in the email to Mr Hazzard…..


Sunday 21 November 2021

Prime Minister Scott Morrison appears to view the very real danger that Australia is heading towards political violence from extremist mobs as all just part of the game to keep him in power


IMAGES: ABC NEWS & Herald Sun


The Monthly, 18 November 2021:


 Scott Morrison is, if nothing else, painfully predictable. As many (including myself) anticipated on Tuesday, the prime minister’s belated condemnation of the threatening mob outside the Victorian Parliament was always going to come with a “but” – a dog whistle to the protesters, an endorsement of their cause, a swipe at overbearing state governments. Today, following the disturbing news that a right-wing extremist had been charged over threats to kill the Victorian premier, and reports that neo-Nazis, seeking to radicalise other protesters, had infiltrated rallies against the state’s pandemic bill (not to mention anti-vaxxers’ rape and death threats forcing the shutdown of the WA premier’s office), Morrison did exactly as expected.


Asked this morning for his response to the violence being incited against politicians, the PM said that threats and intimidation had no place in Australia. But after a few cursory sentences about “civil society” and “respect” (just enough for many media outlets to report it as a rebuke), Morrison pivoted to justification and understanding. “There are many people who are feeling frustrated,” he said, arguing that it was time for governments to stop “telling Australians what to do”. “Australians have done an amazing job when it comes to leading us through this pandemic, but now it’s time for governments to step back. And for Australians to take their lives back,” he added ominously.


Morrison’s sympathy for the “frustrated” protesters has more than a minor whiff of Donald Trump’s “very fine people” comments after the deadly Charlottesville riots, not to mention the “I know how you feel” video during the also-deadly January 6 Capitol insurrection. While some media outlets declared that Morrison had “hit out” at the protesters, there’s little doubt that, as with Trump’s comments, the dog whistle was louder than the denunciation.


Eighty per cent of the PM’s answer, in fact, was focused on the protestors’ justified frustrations and state government overreach, with an added pushback against mandates and restrictions for the unvaccinated (policies to which, as Niki Savva notes, he owes the impressive vaccination rates he loves to crow about). People should be able to get a coffee in Brisbane, added Morrison, regardless of whether they’re vaccinated – a swipe at the Queensland government’s newly announced restrictions. (The state government has since labelled Morrison’s comments a “reckless” undermining of its vaccination efforts.) There’s little doubt that Morrison is trying to appease some of his own senators, who are still vowing to withhold their votes unless he pushes back against mandates. But he’s also indulging the “frustrated” protesters, with little concern for the dangerous levels of misinformation flying about......


Guy knows that the Victorian government needs some sort of bill to be able to manage the pandemic – which is very much ongoing – beyond December, and as supporting crossbencher MP Fiona Patten noted on RN Breakfast, the alternative (state of emergency legislation) “is far more draconian than the legislation we were trying to put through”. But once again, the facts don’t really matter to the PM – all that matters is that the very “frustrated” people know he’s in their corner, even if it means encouraging extremists and continuing to confuse those they are seeking to influence.


This is all getting very real and very dangerous, and many fear that we are on a dark path to the kinds of political violence increasingly being seen in the US and the UK. But to Scott Morrison, it is just another game.


Read the full article here.


IMAGE: news.com.au

 

 


7 News, 17 November 2021:

WA Premier Mark McGowan’s electoral office has been closed due to ongoing security risks.

In a doorstop interview on Wednesday, McGowan revealed that his Rockingham office had been the target of death threats and bomb threats ever since the state government announced mandatory vaccination for much of the state’s workforce.

A week after an armoured tank rolled up outside his electoral office, McGowan has confirmed that his staffers had even been subjected to rape threats.


Friday 29 October 2021

COVID-19 Delta Variant Outbreak Northern NSW: in answer to a sense of frustration felt by some



A few locals have wondered aloud why there is so little in the mainstream media concerning the Delta Variant Outbreak in Northern NSW. One or two have said ‘It’s almost as if we’ve been forgotten’ or words to that effect.


There is no clear explanation for the one-moment-hot-one moment-cold approach taken towards this particular parcel of regional New South Wales.


Though I rather suspect media are not being overly encouraged to look at the wider regional picture.


Because this wider picture shows that until the NSW Government began to ramp up the push to ‘live with COVID’, began to elaborate on the ‘freedom’ it was going to give the Greater Sydney area and played about with public health orders so that, perhaps accidentally, it increased population mobility at a time when this carried risk, there were still rural and regional local government areas such as 6 of the 7 in Northern NSW which had not ever experienced residents in their own communities becoming infected with either the original SARS-CoV-2 virus or the more infectious Delta Variant whilst going about their daily lives.


Focusing on just this one region for even a short period might make other rural and regional areas across NSW and, their local government areas, consider exactly what did an overly compliant state government forcefully impose on them to keep Greater Sydney and industry quiet in the lead up to a federal election.


OVERVIEW



There are seven local government areas in north-east NSW and like a number of other coastal zone councils they all recorded cases of COVID-19 by March 2020.





Byron Bay recorded its first contacts with COVID-19 from 14 March 2020 through to 8 April 2020 – all 16 cases were overseas sourced infections with no community transmission in the local government area. However, on 25 July 2021 the first 2 confirmed locally acquired cases were recorded – just 39 days after the Delta Variant began in Sydney.


COVID-19 entered Tweed Shire on the NSW-Qld border on or about 18 March 2020, when both a confirmed interstate-sourced case & a locally acquired case with no links to a know infection were recorded. From then until April 2021 a further 16 COVID-19 cases were recorded as overseas sourced and there was no apparent community transmission. Tweed’s first locally acquired case that was clearly linked to community transmission was recorded on 30 September 2021 - just under 4 months after the Delta Variant Outbreak began in Sydney.


Clarence Valley recorded its first confirmed COVID-19 cases began on 20 March 2020. However, all these 8 cases were from overseas and did not infect local communities. From 29 March 2020 until 4 October 2021 there had been no confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded in the valley. Its first confirmed locally acquired cases were recorded on 5 October 2021 – just under 4 months after the Delta Variant Outbreak began in Sydney.


Ballina recorded its first COVID-19 case on 22 March 2020. The next day saw its first locally acquired COVID-19 infection, followed by another 12 confirmed COVID-19 cases over the next 15 months, of which only 2 were locally acquired. On 1 July 2021 an overseas sources COVID-19 case was recorded in Ballina, but it wasn’t until about three months later on 6 October 2021 that locally acquired COVID-19 cases began to occur in a distinct community transmission pattern – just under 4 months after the Delta Variant Outbreak began in Sydney.


Lismore City recorded its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on 23 March 2020 and it was an overseas sourced infection with the next 5 cases up to 15 July 2020 being 5 overseas sources & 1 interstate sourced infection. Up to that point there was no community transmission in the local government area. It remained that way for the next 7 months. Then on 15 September 2021 the very first confirmed case of locally acquired COVID-19 was recorded – 15 months after the Delta Variant Outbreak began in Sydney.


Richmond Valley was first introduced to COVID-19 on 31 March 2020 when an overseas sourced COVID-19 case was recorded. A second overseas sourced COVID-19 case was recorded on 28 April 2020. Then the virus disappeared from view. It wasn’t until 28 September 2021 that the first confirmed locally acquired COVID-19 case was recorded in the local government area – a little over 3 months after the Delta Variant Outbreak began in Sydney.


The notable exception to all this was little Kyogle. It had no overseas, interstate or from elsewhere in NSW, COVID-19 cases recorded in the local government area at all – never ever – and up to 27 October 2021 still doesn’t. Its first confirmed locally acquired case was recorded on 28 September 2021 – over 21 months after SARS-CoV-2 first entered Australia and over 4 months after the Delta Variant Outbreak began in Sydney.


NOTE: As data is regularly reviewed, NSW Health from time to time removes or otherwise alters its COVID-19 notification records. The numbers and dates cited in this post were accurate up to 26 October 2021.


BACKGROUND


According to NSW Health in the week ending 25 October 2021 there were 2,207 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and 4,141 active cases.


In that time period every single local health district contained confirmed COVID-19 cases and virus fragments were found in 109 sewerage treatment plants.


As at 26 October 2021 51 NSW hospitals had 321 inpatient cases of COVID-19 & 21 of these hospitals also had COVID-19 patients in intensive care units. There was also an additional 2,361 infected people being treated outside of a hospital setting.


As of 8pm on Tuesday, 26 October 2021 there have been 122 confirmed cases of locally acquired COVID-19 infection in the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD) since on or about 13 September 2021 when the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant first entered north-east New South Wales from the Greater Sydney area.


As yet the infection numbers are relatively low.


The confirmed cases location breakdown in Northern NSW between 13 September & 26 October 2021 appears to be:


Tweed Shire - 6 cases + 1 infection contracted elsewhere in NSW

Byron Bay - 7 cases

Ballina - 11 cases

Kyogle - 16 cases

Richmond Valley - 20 cases

Lismore City - 25 cases

Clarence Valley - 36 cases.


Tuesday 26 October 2021

As the NSW Perrottet Government continues with its plan to reduce its COVID-19 contact tracing & venue alert system.....



There are lessons to be learnt here by NSW Premier Perrottet's COVID-19 crisis committee - now renamed the COVID and Economic Recovery Committee - and NSW Health. However I'm not quite sure that they will learn these. 


Lesson Number One: As government & its agencies rollback aspects of the public health response to the Delta Variant Outbreak make sure these changes are fully explain in detail to regional communities - especially those experiencing COVID-19 community transmission for the first time since the outbreak began in June 2021.  


Make your explanations at a local level via commercial & community radio, newspapers, television - as well as by social media - and make the effort to inform in a timely manner.


Don't just do this once. Put your hands in departmental pockets and pay for community notices/advertisements every time changes are made - because what you are doing now just breeds distrust.



The Daily Telegraph, 25 October 2021:


Owners of a South Grafton business say they are disappointed at the lack of communication from NSW Health authorities after a person with Covid-19 visited their store. 


 Almost two weeks have passed since a Covid-positive customer entered Craig’s Birdplace and Pet Shop, but owners Linda and Iven Craig said they had not been notified by NSW Health. 


“We were actually informed through a friend of the person who tested positive; they wanted to get the information out there as soon as possible,” Mrs Craig said. 


“We contacted the health department who told us someone will call us back for further instructions, but they never did.” The next day, the pet shop, along with several other South Grafton businesses, was listed as a venue of concern on the NSW Health website. 


“It was on Facebook, mentioned on television news, mentioned in the paper, that we were a positive contact, but still the health department hadn’t contacted us, and still haven’t contacted us,” Mrs Craig said. 


“Another business down the road had no idea they were even on the list because no one had contacted them.” Mrs Craig said they immediately closed the store, cleaned the site and everyone got tested. 


Thankfully all received a negative result. 


They then reviewed security footage to find out how many people entered the store on October 5 between 2pm and 2.30pm, when the person with the virus reportedly visited. 


“Only four came here during that time-frame, but only two scanned in,” Mrs Craig said. 


After making her own inquiries, Mrs Craig said it turned out the customers who visited in that time-frame all tested negative to the virus. 


“We actually discovered that the time (the customer with Covid-19 visited the store) was wrong,” she said. 


“The positive person didn’t come in between 2pm and 2.30pm, they came in between 3pm and 3.30pm.” Mrs Craig said the person was wearing a mask in the store, but failed to sign in. 


“We’ve heard that the person has gotten over it really well,” she said. “They said they didn’t have any signs and felt perfectly healthy.” Mrs Craig said she was frustrated with the health ­department. “With all the contact tracing and alerting, it’s just disappointing to see that they’re still not getting it right,” she said. 


But the couple was buoyed by the support shown by the South Grafton community. “We got a lot of messages of support from customers and a big increase in business because people didn’t want to see us go down,” she said. 


“It was also really incredible when the owner of Pets Domain in South rang us and said they could bring their staff over to help run the shop if we couldn’t.


“We’re supposed to be ­rivals, but it just goes to show how special this community is.” NSW Health has been contacted for comment.

 

Tuesday 19 October 2021

Do you know that in the NSW Parliament, the upper house ventilation system has been upgraded to ensure 8 exchanges of fresh air every hour on the advice of health experts. Our school kids get told to open a window. Want to change that? Then take a moment to sign this official e-Petition to Parliament


"An excellent COVID-19 safety plan has been developed for parliament that includes rapid antigen testing, mask-wearing, social distancing and upgraded ventilation systems. A strictly limited number of members would be permitted in the chamber and there will be remote online participation of members. As the opposition Whip in the Upper House, I have spent time examining the plan in great detail, and it is among the strictest set of work practices in our state’s workplaces." [Mark Buttigeig MLC, in The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 September 2021]


When it comes to a complete suite of COVID-19 pandemic health response measures across the entire population, first the Berejiklian and now the Perrottet, NSW governments have rarely been proactive unless pushed.


If the world we live in had attained true equality and equity our children would be having their schools fitted out with high quality ventilation systems, but they are not.


This e-petition set out below has yet to reach the 10,000 signature target which would mean it will be considered by the NSW Parliament.


The SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant Outbreak & COVID-19 infection spread generally are far from over.


Please sign for the sake of kindergarten, primary & high school students across the state.


This petition is not the complete answer but it is a good start. Bringing community concerns right into the Legislative Assembly, where history through Hansard makes every single one of the current 93 members accountable. Make people power count!


NSW Parliament e-Petition with close date 21 October 2021:


Signing ePetition 


To sign the ePetition, confirm you are a resident of New South Wales and enter your title, first name and last name. Once you click ‘submit’ you will have signed the ePetition and will be re-directed to the Legislative Assembly’s ‘ePetitions open for signature’ page 


Covid-19 safety measures in schools: ventilation & air filtration 


To the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly, 


 We call upon the NSW government to take immediate action to ensure adequate ventilation is installed and maintained in Primary Schools. The current measures undertaken by the Department of Education to ensure windows and doors are able to be opened is not sufficient.

 

Covid-19 is an airborne disease. Ventilation, along with vaccination and vital covid-safe steps, are essential to keep children safe. Children under 12 years of age are not currently eligible for vaccination, so adequate ventilation in Primary Schools is a priority. 


 OzSAGE, a network of public health experts, believes ventilation in classrooms is a key requirement for the safe lifting of restrictions in NSW. Their stance is supported by both the CDC in the USA and the ECDC across Europe. 


 In the NSW Parliament, the upper house ventilation system has been upgraded to ensure eight exchanges of fresh air every hour on the advice of health experts. Our children should be afforded the same protection as our elected officials. 


 We are asking for a state-wide ventilation plan to include: 

• Carbon dioxide monitors to be installed in classrooms 

• Air purification devices (including HEPA filters) to be distributed 

 • Funding for shade sails to increase outdoor learning spaces and make it easier for classes to be conducted outdoors 


 With Kindy and Stage 1 children returning to classrooms on the 25th October 2021, we implore you to take urgent action to ensure our children’s health and safety.


To sign online go to:

https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/la/Pages/ePetition-details.aspx?q=rpEwNg2UB9+LpW1NhPZzdA==


BACKGROUND

"COVIDSAFE Plan to support the sittings of the Legislative Council (LC)" at:

https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/tp/files/80383/COVIDSAFE%20Plan%20to%20support%20the%20sittings%20of%20the%20Legislative%20Council%20-%20%20%209%20September%202021.pdf


Sunday 17 October 2021

Due to the speed at which NSW COVID-19 Public Health Orders & Restrictions are amended - here are links to updates

 


NSW Public Health Orders & Restrictions
 - UPDATES can be found
 at:

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/public-health-orders.aspx#affected


BACKGROUND


Public health orders

Exemptions to public health orders can be found here.

 

In force

 

No longer in force