Families will be reunited around NSW as social distancing relaxed
Lynne and Wayne Smith will welcome their nine grandkids now that the state government is easing COVID-19 rules. Plus a warning on a new coronavirus-like illness from the UK.
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“Start cooking mum, we’re coming back!”
That was the warning from Lynne Smith’s youngest daughter Leia, 33, on hearing the news NSW residents will now be able to visit other households in groups of two, plus kids.
The relaxation is especially welcomed by the Woolooware grandparents, who missed grandson Rafael’s first birthday on Sunday.
Before COVID-19, the couple used to see their three daughters – and nine grandkids – “nearly every day.”
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“We spent a lot of time just being together,” Lynne told The Daily Telegraph.
That changed when the restrictions came in, with four year old Izzy declaring his grandparents’ house had been “cancelled”.
But now card nights and weekly family dinners are back on, thanks to the government relaxing the rules on home visits.
The move to reduce social isolation is “a signal that we deeply appreciate all the sacrifices people have made during the month of April,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Tuesday.
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the relaxation was “a prudent, proportionate step forward to reward the community”.
However, Lynne and Wayne Smith won’t be able to have the whole brood over right away – the new rules mean a household can only entertain two adults at a time, plus any dependent children.
“This isn't a licence to go wild and to have massive parties, but it is a licence to be socially responsible and accept that the government's easing this restriction to provide less social isolation,” Gladys Berejiklian said.
The easing of restrictions came with a warning from the Premier: “If you're visiting someone who is over 70 years of age, or someone with a comorbidity, you have to practice really good social distancing,” Gladys Berejiklian said.
“If you have the mildest sniffle, do not go and visit anybody. If you're feeling slightly unwell or fatigued, don't risk it.”
The government is expecting the rate of new cases will increase next month, due to restrictions on home gatherings being eased, and kids returning to school. Children aren’t set to go back to school for another two weeks, but a government source yesterday revealed if the initial transition to in-person teaching goes well, all students could be back full time by the end of May, in line with federal government goals.
The easing of restrictions relies on high testing rates, allowing authorities to track down and stop any community outbreaks of the disease.
A little more than 4,100 people were tested in the 24 hours to Tuesday night, leading to five new confirmed cases.
The state government wants to reach a goal of 8,000 tests per day across the state, and is calling on anyone with any symptoms to come forward for a swab.
Meanwhile, health authorities have cautioned Australian parents to be vigilant after doctors in the UK reported a spike in children catching a coronavirus-like illness.
Dubbed “inflammatory syndrome”, UK health experts said a growing number of children were presenting with symptoms of severe COVID-19, as well as abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Australian Medical Association NSW president Dr Kean-Seng Lim said local doctors had not yet seen a similar trend but he advised parents to be cautious.
“Abdominal pain, nausea, aches and pains and inflammation are all recognised coronavirus symptoms and were reported in a majority of cases going back to the case reports from Wuhan,” he said. “We cannot say for sure if this is a different disease because it could be possible that coronavirus has several strains or mutates as it goes on.”
Dr Lim said the bottom line for parents was that if they see any unusual symptoms in their children, they should see their GP.
Originally published as Families will be reunited around NSW as social distancing relaxed