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

Copy of NSW Public Health (COVID-19 Temporary Movement and Gathering Restrictions) Amendment (No 10) Order 2021 under the Public Health Act 2010, courtesy of the Member for Lismore

Office of the NSW Labor MLA for Lismore, Janelle Saffin, media release, 21 July 2021:

Seeking COVID clarity for business, workers & residents

LISMORE MP Janelle Saffin this week sought clarity from the Office of the Minister for Health on the NSW Government’s working from home direction in regional New South Wales and other related COVID-19 issues.

Ms Saffin said she had raised local businesses’ concerns after Public Health Orders had mistakenly lumped in regional NSW with Greater Sydney, where employers were REQUIRED to direct employees to work from home where reasonably practicable.

“Thankfully, those Public Health Orders were quickly amended and the advice is that employers in regional NSW must ALLOW people to work from home where reasonably practicable,” Ms Saffin said.

“There is a difference in these working from home directions as they apply to Greater Sydney and to here, so hopefully this will clear up any confusion for employers and employees.”

The amended Public Health Orders are attached.

Ms Saffin said she had also sought clarification as to whether anyone, including tradies, could leave the lockdown areas of Greater Sydney to travel to regional NSW for essential work.

“Locals are contacting me concerned that people are coming here from Greater Sydney,” Ms Saffin said.

Here is the Office of the Minister for Health’s response:

For residents of Greater Sydney (other than those living in the Fairfield, Canterbury Bankstown and Liverpool Local Government Areas who are not exempted workers), it is a reasonable excuse to leave your residence for work – but only when it is not practicable to work from home.

People who travel more than 50km outside Greater Sydney for work they are unable to do from home must not enter a premises for work unless they have been tested for COVID-19 in the preceding seven days. Workers must have evidence of the test available for inspection on request by an employer, occupier of the premises, or the police.

We note that any person whose place of residence or usual place of work is in Greater Sydney must still follow the stay at home rules while they are outside Greater Sydney – that is, they should not go to a restaurant or a pub or go shopping for anything other than essential goods. They should only spend time at work and their accommodation while working in regional NSW.

Ms Saffin said she had also expressed the concerns of the local community that we don’t know where the close contacts of the COVID-positive removalists from Chinderah Service Centre and the Coffs Harbour locations went after they were exposed to COVID-19.

“I asked for an update on the contact tracing that has occurred,” Ms Saffin said.

Office of the Minister for Health’s response:

For privacy reasons, NSW Health does not disclose details about venues unless there is a public health reason.

When a confirmed COVID-19 case attends a venue while possibly infectious, NSW Health carries out a risk assessment on that venue to determine whether other people may have been exposed and whether there is a public health risk.

Risk assessments may be re-evaluated as new evidence emerges, for example evidence of transmission of COVID-19 in a specific venue after further contact tracing has occurred.

Further to this, where contact tracing has allowed NSW Health to get in touch with every possible contact at a venue, and it is determined there is no public health risk, a venue will cease to be listed as a venue of concern on the NSW Health site (if it was even listed in the first place).

Mindful that Minister Hazzard is extremely busy dealing with COVID outbreaks, Ms Saffin has requested that he brief all regional and rural MPs on what is being done to keep regional communities safe.

ATTACHMENT

Public Health (COVID-19 Temporary Movement and Gathering Restrictions) Amendment (No 10) Order 2021 under the Public Health Act 2010

NSW Government Gazette, 20 July 2021, Number 331 "Health and Education" by clarencegirl on Scribd

ENDS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NSW Public Health (COVID-19 Temporary Movement and Gathering Restrictions) Order 2021_210720_10.44am by clarencegirl on Scribd

Regional rents continued to outpace capital city rents in 2021

Maitland Mercury, 20 July 2021:

Rents across regional Australia surged by 11.3 per cent in the year ending June 2021, the highest annual growth figure since data firm CoreLogic began records in 2005.

Increases were most pronounced in Tasmania's South East region, including Bicheno, Bruny Island and Huonville, with combined rents for houses and units increasing a whopping 23.7 per cent to $430 per week.

Tasmania aside, many of the largest gains were found in regional Queensland, Western Australia and NSW, with many traditional tourist hotspots seeing the greatest growth.

The Richmond-Tweed region, home to well-known lifestyle enclaves like Ballina, Byron Bay and Lismore recorded regional NSW's highest increase, with combined rents rising by 19.0 per cent over the 12 month period to $620 per week.

Immediately south to Richmond-Tweed, the Coffs Harbour-Grafton region recorded combined rental growth of 16.7 per cent to $525 per week.

In the Southern Highlands-Shoalhaven region, which includes Nowra, Berry and Mittagong, rents rose 15.8 per cent to $549 per week.

Rents in regional Victoria recorded lower increases. The Latrobe-Gippsland region, which includes population centres such as Sale, Bairnsdale and Morwell, recorded the greatest increase in combined dwelling values at 10.4 per cent.

CoreLogic's Head of Research Australia, Eliza Owen said that regional Australia had been suffering from low levels of rental stock, likely contributing to an increase in prices…..

Regional rents continued to outpace capital city rents in the most recent quarter, though there are signs that both markets may be slowing, according to Ms Owen.

Regional rents increased by 2.7 per cent during the quarter compared to a 1.9 per cent for capital cities, both down on the previous quarter…….

NSW Police cracking down on non-compliance with public health order in Northern Rivers region

Echo Net Daily, 19 July 2021: 

Tweed-Byron police fined a 25-year-old Main Arm man $1,000 for breaching state public health orders over the weekend.

Byron Inspector Matt Kehoe said the man hosted a ‘large party’ at his property in defiance of orders limiting household guests in the region to five while concerns over Covid 19 outbreaks in Greater Sydney continued.

Inspector Kehoe said police were continuing to enforce compliance throughout the region and to engage with health authorities.

Police investigating Sydneysider’s illegal Tweed Shire visit

A 46-year-old Sydney woman was self-isolating in the Tweed Shire for fourteen days after breaching stay-at-home orders to visit, Inspector Kehoe said.

She was now complying with public health orders and police were still investigating the matter, the inspector said.

Officers also charged a 48-year-old Tweed Shire man $200 for refusing to wear a mask when visiting the Tweed Heads Police Station over the weekend.

Inspector Kehoe said police stations were under the same rules as businesses and other workplaces, in that anyone entering the buildings had to wear masks unless officially exempted and had to register via QR codes at point of entry.

He said the accused man refused to comply with the orders but didn’t have exemption.

Op-shop volunteers encouraged to report abuse

The police reports on public health order compliance in the region came after volunteers at an Anglicare op shop in Byron Bay said they were shutting shop doors due to abuse from customers who didn’t want to wear masks.

The story had attracted hundreds of comments in local social media forums by Monday morning and Inspector Kehoe said he encouraged the volunteers to report the incidents to police.

‘I understand some elderly ladies received some abuse and that’s very disappointing,’ he told The Echo.....

Read the full article here.

Yesterday afternoon UK hard right 'media personality' Katie Hopkins was deported from Australia via Sydney International Airport for breaching the NSW Public Health Order.

Latest Newspoll has Federal Coalition neck and neck on the primary vote and Labor 6 points ahead on two-party preferred polling, as survey respondents mark PM Scott Morrison down following his mismanagement of the national pandemic response

 

The Australian

The Conversation, 18 July 2021:

Support for Scott Morrison and the government have slumped in Newspoll, in a major backlash against the botched vaccine rollout.

Labor has surged to a two-party lead of 53-47%, compared with 51-49% in the previous poll in late June.

The Australian reports the latest result is the worse for the Coalition this term, and if replicated at an election would deliver the government a clear loss.

Satisfaction with Morrison’s handling of the pandemic – which now sees lockdowns in the nation’s two largest states – plunged nine points in the last three weeks to 52%.

As the brought-forward Pfizer supplies start to arrive, confidence in the government’s management of the rollout is negative for the first time, with only 40% believing it being handled satisfactorily.

Morrison’s net approval in Newspoll – plus 6 – is at its lowest since the bushfire crisis, with an eight point overall shift. Anthony Albanese’s position worsened a little – he is on net minus 8. Despite a small drop, Morrison retains a solid lead over Albanese as better PM – 51-33%

Both Labor and the Coalition are polling 39% on primary votes – a two point fall for the Coalition and an equal rise for Labor.

The poll saw an 18 point drop in satisfaction with the handling of COVID since April.

Satisfaction with the government’s handling of the rollout was 53% in April and 50% in late June - in this poll 40% are satisfied with the handling and 57% are not…...

Sometimes it feels like New South Wales and the rest of Australia is on a COVID-19 negative feedback loop

These days when I wake I am tempted not to immediately look at the bedside clock to check the time but instead to inspect the flashing date on its digital face to confirm which year I’m starting the day in.

And it’s because of little snippets of fact like these…...

In January 2020 the global COVID-19 pandemic quietly entered Australia and the state of New South Wales. However it wasn’t until February 2020 that it became obvious that the virus had firmly established itself here.

That month NSW had an unemployment rate of 4.9% (in original terms) representing est. 215,100 people with no paid employment – an increase of 10,100 on January’s unemployment numbers. 

By July 2020 the unemployment rate had risen to 7.1% when the number of individuals without a job had grown to 222,900. By which time 3,567 NSW residents had contracted COVID-19 and 51 of those people had died.

In June 2021 the highly infectious Delta variant of COVID-19 was confirmed as having entered Australia and New South Wales.

That month NSW had an unemployment rate of 5.0% representing est. 218,900 people without paid employment and, the state cumulative COVID-19 case total had reached 5,637 and 56 people had died of the infection.

So New South Wales ended the month which saw the beginning of the Delta Variant Outbreak with a higher unemployment rate and more unemployed people than it had at the end of the month when the original COVID-19 outbreak began to make itself felt. 

As yet there is no ABS Labour Force data compiled for July 2021, but sadly the growing  infection numbers are available on a daily basis - as of 18 July 2021 the NSW total of cumulative COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began was 6,753 people infected and 60 of that number dead from this viral disease.

I keep looking for the healthy communities and strong economies Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been boasting about since February 2021. Because, right this minute, it feels as though Australia has been catapulted back to the start of this long climb out of a pandemic and, the new 16 June 2021 starting point began with a national cumulative total of 30,291 COVID-19 cases and 910 deaths. 

Nationally the country may have ended June 2021 with a unemployment rate 0.7% lower (in original terms) than the rate in February 2020, but it is such a meagre step forward - given the east coast of mainland Australia is currently fighting a widening Delta variant viral outbreak which threatens to increase the number of people who are out of work for months to come.

Australia not as tolerant of British far right nutters since global COVID-19 pandemic entered its second year

 

IMAGE: ABC News, 18 July 2021

The Guardian, 18 July 2021:

British far-right figure Katie Hopkins has been dumped as a cast member of Seven’s Big Brother VIP and will leave the country after breaching her contract, Guardian Australia can reveal.

Hopkins, 46, broadcast a live video from what she claimed was a Sydney hotel room on Saturday morning, describing Covid-19 lockdowns as “the greatest hoax in human history” while joking about elaborate plans to breach quarantine rules.

On Saturday home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, ordered an urgent review of whether Hopkins has breached her visa conditions by publicly flouting quarantine rules.

But the review has been superseded by a decision to terminate her contract, Guardian Australia understands.

Talent contracts have an out-clause: don’t bring the network into disrepute.

It is also a requirement of any overseas personality to comply with visa conditions.

Seven confirmed the decision on Sunday afternoon.

“Seven Network and Endemol Shine Australia confirm that Katie Hopkins is not part of Big Brother VIP,” the network said. “Seven and Endemol Shine strongly condemn her irresponsible and reckless comments in hotel quarantine.”

Hopkins was contracted to Shine rather than Seven.

Last year, Hopkins had her Twitter account with 1.1m followers permanently suspended for violating the platform’s “hateful conduct” policy.

Hopkins, who was repeatedly retweeted by former US president Donald Trump, was removed to “keep Twitter safe”, according to the social media platform.

Hopkins previously compared migrants to cockroaches and claimed the photograph of a dead Syrian boy lying on a beach that sparked a wave of compassion across Europe was staged, as well as stating that people with dementia should not “block” hospital beds…..

UPDATE

Sounds like Ms. Hopkins is on her way back to the U.K. as I write.....

NSW Police, News, Monday, 19 July 2021 04:21:23 PM:

Police attached to the hotel quarantine operation were notified of an alleged breach of the Public Health Order (Covid-19 Air Transportation Quarantine) at a hotel on Sussex Street, Sydney, about 8.45pm on Friday (16 July 2021).

Following inquiries, a 46-year-old woman was issued a $1000 Penalty Infringement Notice for not wear face covering yesterday (Sunday 18 July 2021).

NSW Police assisted Australian Border Force with the transfer of the woman to Sydney International Airport this afternoon (Monday 19 July 2021), following the cancellation of her visa, departing to the United Kingdom.