Katherine Covid: Mayor’s grim warning as cases grow

Katherine Mayor’s grim Covid warning: ‘This has the potential to wipe out a lot of people’

KATHERINE has been “galvanised” with fear as the community waits for the next update on Covid case numbers.

Katherine Town Council Mayor Elisabeth Clark said the region was on edge after case numbers grew from two to 11 cases overnight on Tuesday. “This has the potential to wipe out a lot of people,” Ms Clark warned.

“I am concerned, it has the potential (to be deadly).”

Ms Clark said the cluster was expected to grow as testing results returned.

“There will be others, there’s no doubt,” she said.

While Katherine has been forced into lockdowns before, Ms Clarke said the seven-day emergency measures were a daunting development.

She said she hoped the lockdown would end by Monday November 22, but said it could be extended.

Ms Clark called on the community to be careful and protect themselves and their loved ones, by getting tested and vaccinated.

“Wear your masks … even put rubber gloves on while at Woolies,” she said.

The Katherine cluster marks the first time Covid has been linked to a remote community.

Ms Clark said the arrival of the virus in remote communities had always been a matter of time.

“You will get Covid, even if you are immunised you can still get Covid – but you won’t get it as bad,” she said.

“We have to learn to live around it.”

Ms Clark said the exposure sites, which include health services, a school and the local pub, meant there would have been high demand for the testing clinics.

“I take my hat off to the health teams,” she said. “We’re all spread out, the logistics are huge. They certainly didn’t waste any time getting out here.”

MacFarlane Primary School acting principal Ruth Millikan told concerned parents and carers of school’s 210 students both the primary and preschool centres were identified as close contact sites.

“We are working with the Department of Health to take the necessary steps that we need to ensure we manage this situation in accordance with the chief health officer directions,” Ms Millikan ­posted on Facebook.

During the press conference, acting chief health officer Charles Pain said a teacher at the school had tested positive.

Other identified exposure sites include Captain Jack’s Fish’n’chips, Kirby’s Pub Katherine Hotel, the Wurli Wurlinjang Health Service and Katherine Hospital.

The Wurli-Wurlinjang Aboriginal Health Service has been forced to close all programs and services, including transport. The health service said anyone needing urgent healthcare must go to the Katherine Hospital.

Originally published as Katherine Covid: Mayor’s grim warning as cases grow