Coronavirus NSW: Australians confused by conflicting COVID-19 advice
Confused about whether you can visit your elderly relative, send the kids to school or even go to the beach? Well, you are not alone and the PM has been forced to step in.
NSW
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Confused about whether you can visit your elderly relative, send the kids to school or even go to the beach? Well, you are not alone.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was on Tuesday forced to step in to clear up some of the confusion surrounding visiting recommendations for nursing homes as new advice for beachgoers and school students added to the muddle.
Last night Sydney’s Waverley Council decided to open restricted corridors on Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte beaches to allow people into the water for exercise from April 28.
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But the tourist hotspots will remain closed to people wanting to walk, socialise and sunbathe.
The decision comes as Mr Morrison urged age-care providers not to impose harsher visitor rules than those recommended by health experts.
“There needs to be a strong reminder that the National Cabinet decision was to not shut people off or to lock them away in their rooms,” he said.
The cabinet recommended people in aged care could have two visits a day from relatives or support people and that they should be in their room.
But Regis Aged Care locked down all 63 of its nursing homes for two weeks in March, while other providers in NSW including Catholic Healthcare, Hall and Prior and St Basil’s, banned visitors and instead facilitated video calls.
“[It] is not good for their wellbeing, [it] is not good for their health,” Mr Morrison said.
The PM said he knew many people were staying in touch with their elderly relatives remotely but stressed the importance of in-person visits as well. “That is still an interaction that we think is positive,” he said.
Council of the Ageing chief Ian Yates said: “There are absolutely no circumstances in which a resident should be isolated to their room, because if the facility is sterile then going to a common area or garden would be fine.”
However the coronavirus confusion went well beyond that.
Last Thursday, the National Cabinet agreed with medical advice that stated “on current evidence, schools can be fully open”.
But in NSW, schools will not be fully operational until term three.
Adding to the confusion, since restrictions were put in place in March, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has told parents “if you’re able to keep your child at home, please do so”.
But she added: “Obviously, for parents who don’t have a choice, your child is always welcome to go to school.”
“We hope by the end of term two we we’ll be in a position to have students going back to school and a full-time capacity by term three,” she said.
Meanwhile, NSW has strictly enforced restrictions limiting reasons a person can leave the house, while some states and territories chose to keep the rules as “advice” and not issue fines.
And the National Cabinet has agreed to limit both indoor and outdoor gatherings to no more than two people, but NSW has banned people having visitors at their houses.
That appears out of step with the messaging from the National Cabinet on relaxing restrictions, with it on Tuesday opening the way for a resumption of low-risk elective surgeries next week including dental procedures, fertility treatments and joint replacements.
Even the NSW Police enforcers have been confused about the rules. At the newly reopened Clovelly Beach, The Daily Telegraph watched 11 people duck under a gate – ignoring the sign saying the beach was closed – in a single minute.
Two police constables patrolled the footpaths and told the Telegraph they did not have an issue with people ignoring the signage for blocked off stairways.
“As far as we know the beach is open so they would be able to use the stairs to access the water,” he said. “They just need to practise social distancing.”
However three other officers were stopping people from using the stairs.
“It’s clear the sign says ‘stairs closed’,” one officer told people attempting to go onto the beach.
Local Brendan McDonald, 28, was exercising at Burrows Park, overlooking the beach, and said everyone was confused.
“No one has been clear about where they can and can’t go,” he said.
“The beach here is open so you can swim but people are getting in trouble from walking a certain way, or when they get out of the water, towelling off.
“This set of stairs has had two different sets of police come by. The first saying you can’t use it, the next saying you can. Who knows what’s going on?”