The NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro spoke with regional media via an online video meeting today where he addressed the lockdown concerns for regional NSW.
In regard to how the lockdown message was forwarded to the regions on Saturday at short notice, Mr Barilaro said he organised a zoom meeting of all local MP’s so they could get the message out to their constituents and said yes, it was an unorthodox way to communicate the lockdown message through social media channels.
“I will be attending the 11 o’clock press conferences with the premier each morning to give a regional focus and a regional update in relation to cases,” said Mr Barilaro on how people can stay in touch with more regional news.
He also stated he will do daily regional media video online meetings to address any further concerns.
The Deputy Premier said today's numbers are disturbing in some parts of the state, and not so in others, with western NSW a key focus. He also welcomed the announcement of the 530,000 extra Pfizer doses that are coming to New South Wales.
“I can assure you that additional doses are coming to those hotspotish areas of regional and rural New South Wales, again with our focus on our most vulnerable indigenous communities.”
When queried about areas that do not have the virus and could those local government areas come out of lockdown early, Mr Barilaro said when they make the decisions about coming out of lockdown they could unlock local government areas with an LGA approach.
“There's no reason in the regions we couldn't do that because there are big parts of regional NSW that have never had COVID or will get COVID fingers crossed, but we'll look at that when the time comes.”
The two main criteria to determine any decision would be active cases in the community and looking at sewage surveillance, which Mr Barilaro said had been a good indicator. This information combined with any major centre that continues to be problematic, or interconnectivity with other local government areas of concern may also keep those local government areas locked down.
“There are three key areas that we will look at, which will inform us on what the decision will look like on Saturday (21 August). Now, if that risk seems to be broadly all over the place, maybe most likely go to a further seven day lockdown for all of regional and rural New South Wales.
Mr Barilaro said the incubation period is 14 days, and the lockdown should not continue past 14 days if it had to be extended beyond the original date. This would be providing there are no cases during this period in your area and that a localised approach is possible.
Commenting on areas with no cases Mr Barilaro said, “Let's say there was a decision to lift the lockdown in regional and rural New South Wales, I'd argue right now that everyone would come out, except for what's occurring possibly in Newcastle, what's occurring in Dubbo, and what’s occurring in Walget, and if there are any LGA’s adjoining those that may be of concern.”
The Snowy Mountains Magazine asked about the major impact on tourism the lockdowns were having in the Snowy Mountains with the snow resorts closing for seven days.
“The considerations we gave to the Snowy Mountains were the same considerations we gave to the south coast. We saw a mass exodus of Canberrans trying to beat their 5pm lockout on Wednesday, relocating, I think they thought they were able to miss the lockdown orders but that follows them to wherever they went,” said Mr Barilaro.
“The ski season is important. We've done so well to this point to keep the ski resorts going, one of the best winter seasons, good snow, and there's been a lot of pressure to shut down earlier, in case of infections of people breaching out of Sydney.”
“That hasn't occurred so this precautionary approach I think preserves the season, as I said, if it's a one or two week lockdown, it will return and we'll be able to finish the season.”
Both Cooma and Jindabyne testing sites have seen a large volume of people arrive for tests during recent days after the ACT lockdown was announced. Considering the ACT is well frequented by residents of the Snowy Monaro region, this was encouraging to see people being tested but there have been no announced COVID-19 cases in the local government area.
