Weddings, babies and ambulances and the border…
New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard held a press conference at 11am today with an update on COVID-19 and the latest stats, announcing the highest results so far of 1035 locally acquired cases in the 24 hour period to 8pm last night.
As usual, the 11am conference started with the stats on vaccinations.
‘We had the biggest number of vaccinations, in our vaccination hubs than we’ve ever had. There were 61,778 who people came forward to our hubs.
‘In addition, there are another 94,387, people who attended either a GP or a pharmacist. So we had a total yesterday in New South Wales alone of 156,165 people received a jab.
‘Yesterday, there were also 1035 locally acquired cases of COVID. In the period up to 8pm last night. There was also one overseas case. Thankfully, many people came forward for tests as well. And there were 129,182 tests undertaken yesterday up to 8pm.
‘Sadly, very sadly, we had two people pass away to 8pm last night, one was a lady in her 70s from the Sydney, Nepean and Blue Mountains district, and she passed away at Nepean Hospital, and a lady in her 80s who passed away in Westmead Hospital.’
New rules for weddings
Mr Hazzard said that it is obvious that the circumstances in New South Wales are such that while we are seeing massive vaccination numbers, we are also seeing substantial cases. ‘For a number of weeks now, we have had no capacity for people to get married.
‘A decision has been taken that in a balanced sense, we have to be able to allow people who want to get married to get married, so as from 12.01am Friday this coming week.
‘Couples who wish to marry will be able to marry, but with minimal guests in attendance, so there will be five guests allowed in addition to those who obviously will be necessary for the actual service, so those officiating and perhaps a photographer to record the event, we will work through that during the course of the week but I want people to know that if you do wish to get married, you certainly can as of Friday of this week.
Misinformation on social media
‘Another issue which is concerning the health team is that there is a lot of misinformation being put out in social media, and one of the big concerns is women who want to have a child, couples who want to have a child, the misinformation is certainly around deterring people from effectively having a child or a vaccination, by suggesting that there is some negative aspects of being vaccinated in terms of your fertility.
‘I just want to confirm that the most senior health advisory service in Australia has confirmed absolutely, that there is no evidence whatsoever that a woman’s fertility or a man’s fertility would be in any way affected by having the vaccine.’
‘Ambulances are not taxis’
Mr Hazzard said he also wanted to address an issue around ambulances. ‘It’s very frustrating at a time when we are getting obviously very substantial numbers of people who need New South Wales Health assistance, they need to come to hospital, that there are quite a number of people who are effectively using ambulances as taxis. Ambulances are not taxis. They are meant for emergencies.
‘I think that we all need to understand that if you call an ambulance when you really don’t need an ambulance, when it is not an emergency, someone else who may really need that ambulance could well suffer could well die.’
The Queensland border
Mr Hazzard spoke about the issue of the Queensland border saying that there have been quite a few discussions about that and discussions continue.
‘It’s very frustrating, I must say, for residents in the northern part of New South Wales to be effectively locked out by Queensland, and it’s presenting some real challenges.
‘There are medical staff who are on the side of the border who work at the Gold Coast hospital. And vice-versa. And it’s certainly problematic.
The issue of moving all checkpoints further south has been looked at. It was considered it was not viable for a number of reasons and particularly the local community. I felt like if the Tweed area is divided in half, it was not going to be especially successful either so I think the answer is not to move the border but rather for Queensland to open up in a more free way to people in the Tweed area, especially those who are needing medical attention.
‘I cannot tell you how frustrating it is for me as Health Minister to see patients on the side of the border who would normally be going across to the Gold Coast hospital to not be able to go there and I think reciprocally, it’s really frustrating for some people in Queensland who would like to come across to the Tweed hospital or have specialists on the side of the border.
Mr Hazzard said the border is only a line that is on a map, it is not in the community. ‘It is something that people who live in the area don’t really think about and I would certainly ask the Queensland government too, as soon as they can see their way clear, to consider allowing a more flexible arrangement for those in that northern area of Tweed.
Having said that, I also stress I have never, ever in my 20 months in this particular position, ever been critical of colleagues in other states who make decisions to keep their own communities safe.
‘That is what we do as well so it’s a matter for them, but I would ask them to reconsider that.’
Recent stories, information and updates regarding COVID-19
Eighteen schools in the Northern Rivers division of Richmond have received $25,000 each as part of the federal government’s School Upgrade Fund, Labor Member for Richmond Justine Elliot said last week. COVID-19 reversed earlier trends toward longer life expectancies. During the pandemic, life expectancies globally dropped by 1.6 years according to a new study published in the Lancet medical journal. Let’s not forget that Covid-19 is still a big issue in our community with 31,935 cases reported across Australia in the last week – an average of 4,562 cases per day. The Global Carbon Budget is about to be refreshed, giving the world a critical insight into how efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are (or are not) progressing. Masks will no longer be mandatory on public transport from tomorrow, Wednesday 21 September. SW Police are urging festival-goers at this weekend’s music festival to celebrate in a safe and responsible manner, whilst also being aware of COVID-Safety measures. The Northern NSW Local Health District reports that to 4pm yesterday, Sunday May 22, there were 40 COVID-19 positive patients in hospital in Northern NSW, with one of these in ICU. The AEC says that voters who have recently tested positive for COVID-19 will be able to phone in their vote in the federal election. The Northern NSW Local Health District says that to 4pm yesterday, 15 May, 384 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the District, including 82 positive PCR tests and 302 positive rapid antigen tests. Volunteering Australia says volleys are the backbone of the country in times of crisis and emergency.
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What ever goes into the body of a pregnant woman goes into the baby…would you want an experimental synthetic plastic coated mRNA virus spike protein producing jab to enter your baby’s bloodstream…
Brad Hazzard…Health Minister,what a joke…Minister for supporting disease would be more appropriate,or Senior Lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry!
‘Hazardous Brad’ has been a gift to KingCovid which just adds to all the Fails on his watch as NSW Health Minister.
Incidence rate means not much. You might have covid and not even know it. Because you might have no symptoms. If you are 70+ and have a precondition, chances are you get very sick. Especially in Nursing Homes and Hospitals. So extra care is needed there. And the only accurate measure is how many people are in intensive care units. And whether or not to increase these units. But remember: fear and panic is what your Government seeks.
Lockdowns and Masks have not proven to decrease the number of covid cases. Only an improved health care will solve some of the problems.
In the meantime: be safe and happy.
Anyone remember Brad Hazard as the energy minister professing to us the need to frack for gas. I do in a very heated public meeting in Lismore , around 10 years ago.
Yup
Remember it with pride
Ran him out of town. Our experts put his team to shame
Hazardous Bard should have quit after the Ruby Princess disaster. And whenever he is ‘questioned’ about his actions he resorts to bullying – told the previous ALP Leader Jodi Mackay to shut up in Parliament / or he goes the verbal biffo like with blaming Bondi Limo Driver for the bondi Covid outbreak / or he tells journos to nick off like with his infamous, “so what, move on” remark over the botched Pfizer for a whole group of senior private school students ( it was only meant for a handful of Indigenous students) / or he gets stuck into the public over the ambulance service’s current problems with responding to callouts. The Olympics showed further still he isn’t right for the job when he dumbed down the our Lockdown struggle s being some sort of competition with Covid being like a high jumper, long jumper or distance runner. We don’t need a ‘sports commentator’ talking about Covid we need a Health Minister talking seriously about the Covid issue.