A Virgin flight from Sydney to Ballina on 14 July 2021 has now been added to the NSW exposure list after a passenger tested positive to COVID-19

ABC News, 25 July 2021:

A Virgin flight from Sydney to Ballina has been added to the NSW exposure list after a passenger tested positive to COVID-19.

Anyone who travelled or worked on Virgin Flight VA 1139 on July 14 must get tested and isolate for 14 days from the date of exposure, regardless of the result of the test.[Virgin Flight VA 1139 on 14 July 2021 – Sydney to Ballina, arriving 11.45am]

NSW Health has also asked that anyone who has spent time at the Campsie shopping centre (14-28 Amy Street, Campsie) and any businesses on Haldon Street in Lakemba in the last 14 days be particularly vigilant for symptoms given the number of exposure venues in these locations.

For the complete list of exposure venues, visit the NSW Health website.

On 20 July 2021 Covid-19 fragments were found at Byron Bay sewage treatment plant which serves about 19,000 people in Byron Bay, Wategos, Suffolk Park, Sunrise, and Broken Head.

Country Womens Association at Tabulam providing better facilities to serve the local community in times of disaster

 

From the Office of NSW Labor MLA for Lismore, Janelle Saffin, media release, 22 July 2021:

How a shower makes a huge difference to a community

BETTER FACILITIES: CWA Tabulam President Vicki Stebbins briefs Janelle Saffin MP and Ben Franklin MLC on the new amenities at their rooms.

STATE Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin has praised CWA Tabulam for their efforts in providing better facilities to serve the local community in times of disaster.

Last Saturday (17 July), Ms Saffin and Ben Franklin MLC inspected the new CWA shower facilities in Tabulam funded under the NSW Government’s 2019 Community Building Partnership Program.

Ms Saffin said the shower will make a big difference.

“The CWA told me that during the 2019 bushfires in Tabulam people would turn up to their rooms covered in ash, wanting somewhere to get cleaned up, but the CWA did not have shower facilities,” Ms Saffin said.

“That crisis prompted the CWA to apply for this grant.

“It is so good to be able to inspect these new facilities that have been built under the Community Building Partnership Program.

“I acknowledge the support of Premier Gladys Berejiklian in ensuring the entire cost of the facilities was covered by the funding.

“The small CWA Tabulam branch plays a big role in the community, including providing an evacuation centre during disasters such as fires and floods,” Ms Saffin said.

“I commend their work and also their initiative in applying for the NSW Government grant that will make a real difference to the support they can offer.”

Nationals Member of the Legislative Council Ben Franklin said it was wonderful to join Ms Saffin and the CWA to celebrate their new shower.

“The Black Summer Bushfires were absolutely shattering and I commend the CWA for their outstanding support to the community in their time of need,” Mr Franklin said.

“The new shower is a game-changer should we be faced with another disaster like in 2019 and it cannot be underestimated the level of comfort and support this new facility will provide when people need it most.

“The NSW Government’s Community Building Partnership is designed to provide funding for positive infrastructure projects and there can be no doubt that CWA Tabulam is an incredibly deserving recipient.”

The world can see evidence of Australia's methane pollution from space

 

Bloomberg Green, 22 July 2021:

Potent methane plumes have been detected in a key coal mining district in Australia, one of the world’s biggest exporters of the commodity, underscoring the fossil fuel’s role in exacerbating climate change.

Clouds of the invisible greenhouse gas, which is over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the Earth in its first couple decades in the atmosphere, were spotted near multiple mines last month, an analysis of European Space Agency satellite data by geoanalytics firm Kayrros SAS showed.

Methane detected over the Bowen Basin on June 21. Source: Kayrros SAS

Two large clouds of methane were spotted over the Bowen Basin on June 21, and were visible across more than 30 kilometers each. While Kayrros attributes the clouds to the coal sector, the plumes were diffused and could have come from multiple sources.

The leaking of methane into the atmosphere has come under increasing scrutiny as awareness grows over their harmful global warming effects. Scientists view reducing emissions from the fossil fuel industry as one of the cheapest and easiest ways to hold down temperatures in the near term, especially as improving technology makes it easier to identify polluters.

Efforts to curtail coal use have largely focused on the large amount of CO₂ generated when it’s burned, but mining the fuel is also problematic because producers can release methane trapped in underground operations to lower the risk of explosion. The coal sector is forecast to account for about 10% of man-made emissions of the gas by the end of the decade, according to the Global Methane Initiative.

The Bowen Basin is a key producing region for Australia, the world’s top exporter of metallurgical coal used in steel-making. For every ton of coal produced in the region, an average 7.5 kilograms of methane is released, according to Kayrros. That’s 47% higher than the global average in 2018, the geoanalytics company said, citing International Energy Agency data.

When contacted about the larger of the two plumes, Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science said it didn’t receive notice of methane releases in the two days through June 21. Coal mining companies have reporting obligations under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme that is regulated by the federal government, the department said.

Quote of the Week

 

“Scott Morrison is the Billy Joel of Australian politics – a hollow master of pastiche” [The Guardian headline to a Peter Lewis article on 6 July 2021]

AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL POLLING: Compare The Pair

 

Oh what a difference a year and one global pandemic make......

19 July 2020

18 July 2021

Newspoll is an Australian opinion polling brand established in 1985, exclusively published by News Corp’s The Australian newspaper and administered by UK based market research and data analytics group, YouGov. The business name "Newspoll" is registered to Nationwide News Pty Ltd a subsidiary of News Corp.

Meme of the Week and Image of the Week

 

via 

@Biggy1883

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison leaving COVID-19 press conference, IMAGE: Brisbane Times,13 July 2021

In NSW the COVID-19 community transmission count & hospital admissions grow in this highly infectious Delta Variant Outbreak

 

Scanning electron microscopic image of a cell infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles, shown in yellow. IMAGE: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

 

According to NSW Health data the number of community transmitted COVID-19 infections since the beginning of the Delta Variant Outbreak now stands at 1,652 men, women and children including 5 deaths as of 8pm on 21 July 2021. 

Those five deaths represent est. 8% of all COVID-19 deaths which occurred in the New South Wales population.

It only took the virus until Day 36 of this variant outbreak to infect 1,652 NSW residents. In 2020 the original COVID-19 virus took until about Day 214 to reach that level of cumulative community infection in the state.

Between 4-10 July 2021 a total of 97% of all COVID-19 infections had been contracted by community transmission - as opposed to 52% in the second half of 2020. 

From 12 June to 10 July 2021, 100% of locally acquired cases were genome sequenced and found to be the Delta variant of concern and 51% of overseas acquired cases were identified as having COVID-19 variants of concern Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1) and Delta/Kappa (B.1.617)]. 

As of 21 July this year, est. 44% of the state's total locally acquired COVID-19 infections since the pandemic began occurred in the last 36 days. 

According to a news report, on Wednesday 21 July 2021 there were 106 people being treated for this virus in hospital, an increase of 11 from Tuesday. Some 23 of these are patients have been placed in intensive care and 11 of these are being ventilated.

The Delta Variant Outbreak has now spread to regional/rural New South Wales and as of 12.01am on 21 July, an est. 60,342 people across Orange City, Blayney and Cabonne local government areas are under a stay-at-home public health order until 28 July 2021.

 

According to a 19 July 2021 Northern NSW Local Health District media release more than 40 close contacts of 2 infectious people who travelled through Chinderah near Murwillumbah on 13-14 July have been placed in 14-day home isolation.

UPDATE: By 8pm on 22 July 2021 the total number of locally acquired infections since the start of the Delta Variant Outbreak in NSW has reached 1,788 cases, including 6 deaths. The NSW Premier announced a State of Emergency will be declared.

NOTE:

All weekly epidemiological reports issued by NSW Health have a time lag of around 6-8 days before publication, however these reports possibly allow for a clearer understanding of how this outbreak is progressing.

• COVID-19 Weekly Surveillance in NSW - Epidemiological week 27, ending 1o July 2021 [19 July 2021]

• COVID-19 Weekly Surveillance in NSW - Epidemiological week 26, ending 3 July 2021 [14 July 2021]

• COVID-19 Weekly Surveillance in NSW - Epidemiological week 25, ending 26 June 2021 [6 July 2021]

• COVID-19 Weekly Surveillance in NSW - Epidemiological week 24, ending 19 June 2021 [28 June 2021]

• COVID-19 Weekly Surveillance in NSW - Epidemiological week 23, ending 12 June 2021 [18 June 2021]

• COVID-19 Weekly Surveillance in NSW - Epidemiological week 22, ending 5 June 2021 [11 June 2021]

NSW Health daily media releases giving overnight breakdowns of new infections can be found here:

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/news/Pages/2021-nsw-health.aspx

SARS-CoV-2
IMAGE: NIAID