Compared: Active Covid cases in the Lismore LGA area

Covid cases are surging in the Northern Rivers placing pressure on our local healthcare systems. See our interactive map for details where all the cases are.

More Covid-positive cases are appearing in the Northern Rivers since the relaxation of restrictions in December bringing today’s tally to 1154 new cases in the Northern NSW Local Health District to 8pm last night.

This comes as a Ballina man died from the virus on Wednesday and two Byron residents and one Grafton woman lost their lives on Friday.

There are 42 Covid positive patients in hospital in Northern NSW, with six of these in ICU.

NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Branch Secretary at Lismore Base Hospital Gil Wilson said nursing staff are working up to 40 hours a week overtime in addition to their full-time hours.

“I took one of my days off to help out in ICU,” he said.

“Covid is coming at us, we were supposed to have 25,000 cases nationally in January but we have 35,000.

“At what point does it take over the system?”

Mr Wilson said that Lismore Base Hospital is needing to transfer patients to Tweed to help cope with demand.

“We’re transferring patients to Tweed or get nursing staff to come back into work.

“They are getting text messages after text messages pleading for them to take another shift.

“They get better wages and conditions in Queensland so there is a lot of staff drift to Queensland.”

Mr Wilson said nurses have been let down by the government.

“They had two years to plan this, they saw what was happening overseas yet didn’t want to talk about building capacity to handle the demands put on the health system.”

New cases by LGA as at 8 January 2022

• Tweed Heads 641
• Byron Shire 171
• Ballina 106
• Lismore 96
• Richmond Valley 78
• Clarence Valley 54
• Kyogle 6
• Tenterfield 2

*Tenterfield is in a different local Health District, but postcodes put cases in NNSWLHD

A Northern NSW Local Health District spokesman said if you have any Covid-19 symptoms it is still important to have a test and self-isolate until you receive a negative test result.

“You can get tested at any of our hospital testing clinics seven days a week,” he said.

Other clinics may have reduced hours, so please check before attending.

Director Clinical Services Northern NSW Local Health District, Lynne Weir said the Northern NSW Local Health District is currently experiencing extra demand on staffing and resources, due to both increased pandemic activity and the additional pressure of some staff being furloughed due to needing to isolate.

“We would like to sincerely thank all of our hard working team and all those who came back early from leave to support their friends and colleagues,” Ms Weir said.

Lismore Base Hospital has six people in the ICU with Covid-19.

Ms Weir said there are sufficient intensive care beds across the three major hospitals in Grafton, Lismore and Tweed, with plans in place to surge staffing and ICU capacity, if and when required, including non-frontline roles as well as staff from other facilities.

“Lismore Base Hospital is the primary receiving hospital for COVID-19 patients, but all hospitals in the District have the necessary PPE and skilled staff to admit COVID-19 cases if required,” Ms Weir said.

Staffing for the district has had a 32.3 per cent increase and includes 211 more doctors, 461 more nurses and midwives, and 141 more allied health staff. increased for the district between mid-2012 and mid-2021, by an additional 1,219 FTE staff.

“Hospitals in NNSWLHD communicate regularly with one another about any potential or impending risks arising from Covid-19.

“This process is similar to the emergency response which can occur for natural disasters such as flooding or weather events,” Ms Weir said.