Coronavirus NSW: Girraween Public School shuts, 13 new cases
A western Sydney primary school has been evacuated after a student tested positive to coronavirus. Meanwhile Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed difficulties in receiving information from Victoria is stopping NSW from planning a reopening of the southern border.
NSW
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A western Sydney primary school has been evacuated after a student tested positive to coronavirus.
Parents and carers were asked to collect their children from Girraween Public School, near Blacktown, on Tuesday afternoon after the case was confirmed.
A spokesman for the Department of Education said in a statement the school would be closed while contact tracing was underway.
“We request that parents and carers who have students attending Camp Australia OOSH this afternoon make arrangements to come and collect their children,” a message sent to parents read.
“Staff will remain at the school while students are being collected.”
COUPLE GIVES BIRTH AFTER SNEAKING INTO NSW
A Malaysian couple who gave birth at a Coffs Harbour hospital have been charged after allegedly sneaking into NSW from Victoria after previously being refused entry at the border.
The couple, along with eight other Malaysian nationals, were stopped on the Murray Valley Highway in Euston last Monday, August 17, where they told authorities they intended to find work in NSW as fruit pickers.
Police told the group they did not hold a valid permit and were required to return to Victoria, enter NSW via plane and quarantine before travelling north.
On Thursday August 27, police received a tip off that the couple — a 26-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man — had given birth at a Coffs Harbour hospital.
The pair will appear in court on September 14.
In a separate incident, A 27-year-old woman was charged after allegedly hiding in the back of a truck and sneaking across state borders.
The woman, from Wagga Wagga, allegedly attempted to enter NSW from Victoria multiple times over the weekend without an appropriate permit and was denied each time.
At 10pm on Sunday, the woman allegedly boarded a truck and hid in the back as it crossed the border between Wodonga and Albury.
The woman then travelled to her home in Wagga Wagga. She was tracked down and arrested on Tuesday morning.
In the last week police also issued fines to a number of people who allegedly hosted large parties where little social distancing was observed.
On Wednesday August 26, officers attended a Jindabyne resort after reports a large party was taking place in the staff quarters.
Police say a partygoer tipped off guests to police presence and about 30 people fled the scene. At least another 30 were found inside. Following inquiries, two men – aged 22 and 25 – were each fined $1000.
On Saturday August 29, police attended a house party at Lethbridge Park where they found more than 100 partygoers not social distancing.
Four teenagers were charged with being aggressive toward police and the 22-year-old female occupant of the house was fined $1000.
TAMWORTH COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL CANCELLED
The future of the beloved Tamworth Country Music Festival is hanging in the balance of a tense council vote.
Tamworth regional councillors will vote next Tuesday night, September 8, on whether the 49-year-old music festival will go ahead amid heightened safety fears due to COVID-19.
A spokeswoman for the festival told The Daily Telegraph that event organisers have already recommended its suspension, however, the final say will come down to a vote.
“Today, festival organisers announced to local media that they would be putting a recommendation to Tamworth Regional Councillors to suspend all Council run events,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.
“The suspension of the festival, which has a 49-year history, has not been considered lightly, months of in-depth consultations have taken place with NSW Police, Hunter New England Health, Festival sponsors, and stakeholders to reach this point.
“Organisers believe it is unlikely that social distancing and border restrictions will be eased in time to allow the event to proceed in its usual fashion, the result of this would mean that many of the popular aspects of the event would need to be abandoned.”
The festival was originally intended to run from Friday January 15 until Sunday January 24, 2021.
PREMIER: GETTING INFORMATION FROM VIC ‘DIFFICULT’
Restrictions on residents living on the NSW-Victorian border will be eased from Friday, with the border bubble expanding to 50km on either side of state lines.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has also given hope to farmers desperate for more workers, saying it would be “positive” if agricultural workers can be exempted from tough border restrictions.
A “border resident permit” will be reinstated, allowing residents to travel into NSW to obtain necessary goods or services, for care or other compassionate reasons; and to attend work or school (where they can’t work or go to school in Victoria). However, Victorian residents will not be able to travel outside the 50km border zone.
Ms Berejiklian gave no time frame for opening the state’s southern border, but said “as soon as” health advice gives the all clear, she will “jump at the opportunity”.
NSW can’t plan a way to reopen its southern border because health officials aren’t getting enough information from Victoria about its COVID-19 outbreak and don’t trust the state has contact tracing under control.
Ms Berejiklian said she did not want to make it a “criticism” but confirmed it had been “difficult” for NSW to get information from Victoria about “rates of testing” and “community transmission”.
“That has, in part led to our angst about how we can move forward (on borders),” she said. Speaking in Albury on Tuesday, Ms Berejiklian said she had been “hesitant” to close the border in the first place and would gladly reopen as soon as it was safe.
“It’s really important for us to understand what’s happening on the other side of the border and I know my counterpart, Premier Andrews, is going through a difficult time,” she said.
“But … unlike our side of the border, we know that if we have any suspected cases or contact tracing or testing, we’re able to jump onto it straightaway.
“We don’t have that level of confidence on the other side, only because we’re not in charge of the system on the other side and therefore we have to make sure we’re not introducing unnecessary risk into our regional communities here in NSW.”
Ms Berejiklian said NSW had supported the Victorian Government in “any way” it could because the risk to the state was “greatly reduced” when the number of cases in Melbourne comes down.
Ms Berejilian also revealed she has still not had a conversation with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk about Queensland’s border closure.
13 NEW CASES IN NSW, NEW VENUE ALERTS
NSW has recorded 13 new cases of coronavirus in the past day including two in hotel quarantine and 11 locally acquired infections.
Seven of the new cases are linked to the CBD gym cluster, one is linked to cases at Liverpool Hospital.
Three people at St Paul’s Catholic College in Greystanes have also been diagnosed with COVID-19 and all year 10 students at the school must get tested and isolate for 14 days.
Two more staff at the Reddam Early Learning Centre in Lindfield have also tested positive and all staff and children who attended the centre are considered close contacts.
A Thai restaurant in Sydney’s inner west has closed for cleaning after a diner who visited the venue on August 28 between 6-7.30pm has tested positive.
Anyone who attended the restaurant during those times is urged to contact health authorities and self-isolate.
Anyone who attended the following venues or public transport is considered a casual contact of a case and must monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they develop:
– Kmart, Aldi, Coles and the food court at Warriewood Square shopping centre on 29 August between 12:30 – 2:30pm
– Newtown Train Station, Kings Street Newtown 2042 on 28 August 2020 between 5.10pm – 5.20pm
– BWS bottle shop, 123 King Street, Newtown on 28 August 2020 between 5.15pm – 5.40pm
– Off Ya Tree clothing and body piercing store, 225 King Street, Newtown on 28 August 2020 between 7.15 – 7.55pm
– Rydges Camperdown hotel, 9 Missenden Road, Camperdown 2050 on 29 August 2020 between 2.00-3.15pm
– Blacktown to City train: 25 August departed Blacktown 6.58am, arrived Central 7.45am
– Blacktown to City train: 26 August departed Blacktown 6.59am, arrived Central 7.41am
– City to Blacktown train: 25 August departed Town Hall 6:25pm, arrived Blacktown 7.18pm
– City to Blacktown train: 26 August departed Wynyard 6:38pm, arrived Blacktown 7:35pm
– 440 bus: 25 August departed Central Station, Eddy Ave, Stand B 7.54am; arrived Oxford St at West St 8:05am
– 311 bus: 26 August departed Central Station, Eddy Ave, Stand B 7:48am; arrived Darlinghurst Rd at Burton St 7.58am
– 389 bus: 25 August departed St Vincent’s Hospital, Burton St, 4:12pm; arrived Town Hall Station, Park, St Stand J 4:23pm
– 389 bus: 26 August departed St Vincent’s Hospital, Burton St, 4.07pm; arrived Town Hall Station, Park St, Stand J, 4.23pm
70 NEW CASES IN VICTORIA, FIVE DEATHS
Victoria’s transmission rates are on a steady decline with the state recording 70 new cases on Tuesday and five new deaths.
Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed all five of the deaths are linked to aged care facilities.
Two women in their 70s, two women in their 80s and one woman in her 90s are the latest to die.
Mr Andrews will on Sunday speak about two road maps for easing lockdown restrictions and opening up the state but warned against opening up too much too soon.
Given the low case numbers, the Premier flagged the possibility of having different settings in regional Victoria compared to those for metropolitan Melbourne.
“We can today announce that on Sunday we’ll speak about two road maps towards opening up, one for metropolitan Melbourne and a second road map for regional Victoria,” he said.
“We believe that given the low case numbers it will be possible for us to have different settings in regional Victoria, and a different timeline and road map compared to what will be essential in metropolitan Melbourne.
THAI ROCK RESTAURANT REOPENS
Meanwhile, Thai Rock restaurant has reopened more than six weeks after it became the epicentre of a major coronavirus outbreak.
The Wetherill Park restaurant announced it would reopen on Tuesday after it was forced into an extended shutdown.
A cluster of more than 114 cases have been linked to the venue, but the source of the original outbreak remains unknown.
The outbreak forced the venue into closure in mid July, with staff and customers sent into a two week isolation.
Staff at the restaurant – which is registered as a COVID Safe venue – will be using thermal imaging technology to check the temperatures of everyone who enters.
FAILING NSW AGED CARE HOMES KEPT SECRET DURING COVID
Hundreds of NSW families have no way of knowing if their elderly relatives live in one of 31 aged care homes across the state stung with a secret notice for failing standards during the pandemic.
The shocking number of homes slapped with directions to improve their service follows revelations the supposed “cop” on the aged care beat completely stopped unannounced visits to check safety standards during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis.
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has ordered 82 nursing homes to clean up their act since March 1, but none of the providers have been publicly named, leaving families in the dark as the breaches have only been dubbed “low or medium” risk.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal almost half of these breaches were for NSW homes, with 16 in Victoria, 13 in SA, 10 in Qld, 9 in WA, 2 in Tasmania and 1 in the Northern Territory.
The Commission — which issues the compliance notices — does not detail what the failures were.
Meanwhile Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck on Monday confirmed there had been a “cessation” of spot checks by the Commission “based on medical advice” in recent months.
“There was a period where unannounced visits were ceased,” he said.
Mr Colbeck said unannounced visits have now begun again, defending the temporary stop by claiming the Commission conducted safety checks in other ways.
“The Quality and Safety Commission has a number of mechanisms to investigate and to check on residential aged care facilities,” he said. “It’s not a one-touch regulator.”
The government yesterday tipped an extra $563.4 million into emergency COVID-19 support measures for the sector, including funds to stop workers from moving between homes.
Commissioner Janet Anderson said the non-public improvement notice issued to 31 NSW aged care homes was one of a “number of actions” the watchdog could take when a breach was discovered.
“If the Commission is not satisfied that necessary improvements are being made to meet the Quality Standards as outlined in the plan for continuous improvement, then the Commission may escalate regulatory action,” she said.
QUEENSLAND HOTLINE TO REACH OUT TO NSW RESIDENTS
NSW residents blocked from accessing healthcare in Queensland can now dial a special hotline to get an exemption after the Palaszczuk government admitted its system was failing people.
Queensland on Monday caved to public pressure in the wake of shocking cases of healthcare being hampered by border bureaucracy and introduced a new unit to fix the granting of exemptions.
Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles said most medical exemptions had been granted, but acknowledged there had been a “small proportion” of problematic cases and that was “too many”.
“We’ve said we want to do better,” he said.
Earlier this month a Tweed Heads boy missed a potentially lifesaving check-up at the Prince Charles Hospital following a double lung transplant, while a Ballina woman lost an unborn twin baby after being transferred to Sydney instead of Brisbane.
Under the changes clinicians will co-ordinate patients seeking travel exemptions, with cases to be prioritised for assessment by the Queensland Chief Health Officer.
Despite the concession, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk remained adamant she would not budge on borders regardless of external pressure.
“The federal government can throw whoever they want at that, we can have Clive Palmer as well, but I will not be moved,” she said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison continued to agitate for greater consistency on border issues but said yesterday there was “no dispute” from the federal government that states and territories had the “powers” to control their closure.
“The point that we want to be able to achieve together is the road back,” he said.
“The road back for our economy to ensure that we can see jobs continue to come back to our economy, whether it is in NSW, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania or anywhere else.”
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has also come under fire for the negative impact on agriculture caused by the strict border closure between NSW and Victoria.
Ms Berejiklian said she wouldn’t consider allowing farm workers free movement into NSW before Friday’s meeting of National Cabinet, but flagged other restrictions would soon be relaxed. That’s despite her deputy premier and agriculture minister calling for freedom of movement for farm workers.
Ms Berejiklian said that would “present a bigger risk” than current policies.
“But it’s a risk that we have to assess, and a risk we’re willing to take on if that’s what the health advice says,” she said.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has also been critical of the hard borders between states.
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