NSW Covid update: premier says ‘people will die’ when state reopens as 1,288 new cases reported
The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, says older Australians should already be fully vaccinated against Covid due to the “ample” supply of AstraZeneca and the community needs to accept that when the state reopens “unfortunately people will die”.
The percentage of the adult population in NSW to have received their first dose has now reached 70%, with authorities pushing to double vaccinate that proportion and introduce some freedoms.
NSW reported 1,288 new locally acquired cases and seven deaths on Thursday.
Berejiklian unexpectedly announced that from 5am on Friday, the one-hour limit on outdoor exercise for residents in local government areas of concern in Sydney would be scrapped. The premier noted the health advice had changed due to the 70% first-dose milestone but said the curfew for these LGAs remained in place.
There were 23 new cases in western NSW, including 18 in Dubbo and four in Orange. In the far west of the state, Wilcannia recorded four new cases, and there was one new case in Broken Hill.
The state’s chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, said authorities were increasingly worried about the NSW Central Coast, after seven new cases were detected, all infectious while in the community.
Berejiklian was on Thursday asked about comments from the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, that Doherty Institute modelling suggested that even at 70% vaccination rates, 80 people would die each day in Australia six months after an outbreak. The NSW premier said “death is horrible but we also need to put things into perspective”.
“At the moment, there are 8 million citizens who don’t have a choice in how they spend their free time, who don’t have a choice about what they can do, when they can leave their homes. That is no way to live,” Berejiklian said.
She pointed out annual flu deaths in her state averaged 600-800 before the pandemic, and also noted that 50 people died each day from heart disease.
“Nobody likes to talk about this because it’s confronting. But we have to get back to living with life as normal as possible, knowing that Covid is among us,” she said.
“So we have to get very real about what we’re facing. And I know sometimes it’s difficult to hear. But this is what will get us through, this is the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s accepting that Covid is part of our lives, accepting that unfortunately people will die, but they will less likely die if everyone is vaccinated, and this is the reality.”
Regarding the 70% double-dose reopening target, Berejiklian was asked if she would require a higher vaccination rate among vulnerable groups, including those over 70, Indigenous communities and those in disability settings..
She noted the commonwealth had responsibility for some priority groups, and that her state health system had needed to step in to address “challenges” vaccinating some groups.
But Berejiklian insisted there had been an “ample supply of AstraZeneca”.
“When any of us see anybody over 70 who is not vaccinated, that’s a huge concern. I’m 50. I’ve had AstraZeneca. There’s no reason for anyone not to accept either vaccine,” she said.
On Thursday, the Australian Medical Association called on the NSW government to release modelling of its hospital capacity, with the AMA president, Dr Omar Khorshid, warning a double-dose vaccination rate of above 80% would be needed for the healthcare system to cope. The AMA’s concern follows Guardian reports of overworked Sydney ICU nurses increasing sedative use to cope with their workload.
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However, the NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, shot down suggestions the state’s healthcare system was on its knees, insisting the system could share the burden between different hospitals. Hazzard also hit out at “keyboard warriors” who he claimed had been providing “irresponsible” health advice online, and he urged citizens to follow the government’s health warnings.
There are now 957 Covid patients in hospitals across NSW, with 160 in intensive care with 64 of those requiring ventilators. Of the 160 patients in ICU, 136 are unvaccinated, while 16 have had one dose of vaccine.
Hospitalisations have risen sharply over the past week. Last Thursday, there were 698 Covid patients in hospitals in NSW, with 116 in intensive care and 43 on ventilation.
Of the seven deaths announced on Thursday, three were unvaccinated, including a man in his 50s. Two people who were fully vaccinated, a man in 70s and a man in his 80s, died, however authorities noted they had significant underlying health conditions. The vaccination status of the other two deaths was not clear.
The majority of Sydney’s Covid transmission continues to occur in the west and south-west of the city, with 154 of Thursday’s new cases aged under 10 and 730 aged between 10-39. An outbreak at Parklea prison has grown to 87 cases, and a cluster at Bathurst prison has grown to 11.
Meanwhile, the NSW government has unveiled almost $4bn in extra financial support.
The state treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, on Thursday announced an additional $3.9bn in relief funding, including $1.5bn from the federal government.
This will extend the jobsaver program of employment subsidies for lockdown-affected businesses, as well as rent relief incentives, payroll tax reductions, deferrals and small business grants.
Eligible businesses will be permitted to defer their payroll tax payments until January and pay off their tax obligations interest-free over 12 months.
A new “hardship panel” will also be created to assess business relief applications that don’t qualify for Covid-19 grants.