Coronavirus NSW: northern beaches bus driver tests positive for COVID
One of the 28 people infected in the northern beaches COVID cluster is a bus driver who worked on December 15 and 16. And churches in the area have paused face-to-face services.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A bus driver has been identified in the northern beaches cluster as local churches shut down face-to-face services over the weekend.
A male driver at Forest Coach Lines, who are contracted by Transport for NSW to run bus services in Sydney’s North Shore, tested positive yesterday following the outbreak of 28 infections in the local area.
A Transport For NSW spokeswoman confirmed the department was “working closely” with NSW Health officials to investigate and get in touch with the drivers’ close contacts
She said the driver had “limited contact” with passengers, and Forest Coach Lines’ Terrey Hills bus depot would be deep cleaned.
“The bus driver drove a number of routes on Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 December, however had limited contact … at this stage those passengers are not considered close contacts,” she said.
“Transport for NSW is working with the contractor, which has taken a number of immediate actions in the best interests of safety, including a deep clean of the bus and depot.
It comes as multifaith churches across the northern beaches have suspended face-to-face services a week out from Christmas.
The Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay asked all five parishes in the northern beaches to suspend in-house services due to the three-day stay-at-home order for local residents.
Catholic Bishop of Broken Bay Bishop Anthony Randazzo said he wanted clergymen and parishioners to “take every precaution” during the outbreak, and suggested mass be held via livestream.
He said he would review the situation “early next week”, depending on the number of COVID cases.
“In light of this, and in order that our people be kept as safe as possible, I ask that our churches in the region be closed for this weekend,” Bishop Randazzo wrote to parishioners on Friday.
“I am particularly mindful of the disruption in people’s lives and plans that this development will occasion … where possible, you may choose to resume livestreaming the mass for this weekend.”
“The situation may be distressing for families. I hold them all in my prayer and ask that you do the same.”
Northern Beaches Pentecostal Church pastor Don Modarelli said his parishioners’ planned Christmas celebrations had been cancelled as the outbreak boomed on Thursday, and he had organised a Zoom celebration instead.
“We made the call on Thursday night, a week from Christmas, it was a hard call to make,” Mr Modarelli said.
“We don’t know how long this will go on for, we just want everyone to be safe even if we can’t all be together.”
A spokesman for Dee Why Mosque also confirmed it had closed for three days due to the outbreak.
He said worshippers could attend services online for the next 72 hours.
“We’ve closed for three days at this stage, because of COVID-19, but it could be longer we’ll have to wait and see,” he said
NORTHERN BEACHES RESIDENTS URGED TO WEAR MASKS ‘AT ALL TIMES’
Northern beaches residents should now wear masks indoors “at all times” for the next three days as authorities fight to contain the growing COVID cluster.
Residents have been asked to wear masks in shopping centres, supermarkets and workplaces, on public transport and in health care and aged care facilities, according to a new public health advisory issued by NSW Health on Friday afternoon.
The direction is non compulsory but is effective immediately.
A statement from health officials said the “strong” recommendation to wear a mask would stay in place for 72 hours in hopes of curbing the spread within the virus-stricken Sydney region.
“Due to increasing COVID-19 case numbers associated with the Avalon cluster, NSW
Health is issuing a strong advisory for all people in the Northern Beaches LGA to
wear a mask at all times when in indoor areas,” the NSW Health statement said.
“While this is currently only a strong advisory from NSW Health, we will continue to
monitor the evolving situation and compliance with this advisory.”
Masks do not need to be worn at home or used in public by very young children and those with relevant medical conditions.
The statement said while the mask recommendation was advice only, if residents failed to follow the advice it could become compulsory.
“Failure to adhere to the advice puts the wider community at risk and may result in a mandatory order,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, 13 airline staff have been issued $1000 fines after they allegedly failed to self-isolate in Sydney after arriving from overseas.
Police were tipped off about a crew member who had flown into Sydney on a flight from South America on December 5, after he allegedly left his accommodation and attended nearby businesses in Mascot.
Police attended the hotel at 9.30pm that day and issued fines to several crew members who allegedly joined the man in breaching Public Health Orders.
It comes as Sydney’s northern beaches has been declared a COVID-19 hotspot, with interstate travel now closed to the region’s 250,000 residents.Victoria has also introduced travel permits for all NSW residents, warning mandatory 14-day quarantine for entry into the state could soon be enforced.
There are now 28 cases associated with the Sydney cluster, 26 linked to either the Avalon RSL, the Avalon Bowlo, or both. Two cases are close contacts of people who attended these venues.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she expects the number to grow as more people are tested.
“If we get on top of this in the next two or three days, all of us will be able to have a much better Christmas,” she said.
“But if we don’t get on top of it in the next few days, it could mean further restrictions down the track,” she said.
“We don’t want to go down the mandatory path but we will if we have to.”
The outbreak has triggered stay-at-home orders for three days for 250,000 people in the Northern Beaches local government area. Locations where infectious people have visited now span the peninsula from Dee Why to Palm Beach.
Surf Life Saving NSW have also made the decision to close all 21 beaches along the coastline from Palm Beach to Manly.
“We are backing the Government’s call for residents of the northern beaches to stay at home for the next few days,” said Surf Life Saving NSW CEO Steven Pearce.
“Please don’t go to the beach, both to limit the risk of spreading the virus, along with staying safe because beaches will not be patrolled, however, lifeguards are maintaining surveillance capability.”
Of the 15 new cases announced to 8pm last night, all were locally acquired and were Northern Beaches residents.
Since 8pm, a further 10 locally acquired cases were recorded who will be listed in tomorrow’s numbers. Eight are from Northern Beaches, and all are linked to the Avalon cluster. Two are residents of South East Sydney and linked to the Avalon cluster.
The links of two cases are under urgent investigation, and one case linked to the Avalon cluster has been reported in a NSW resident whose infection was diagnosed in Queensland.
The woman, in her 50s, flew into Brisbane on Virgin flight VA925 landing about 9.30am on Wednesday, December 16. Her case will be reported in Queensland’s numbers.
Ms Berejiklian said people shouldn’t make the assumption there is a “super-spreader”.
But she did confirm flight crews coming to Sydney would now be sent to only two hotels from Tuesday, instead of a selection of 27 or 28 hotels currently used, to reduce any chance of the virus spreading.
She said one airline was found to have breached its own guidelines a few weeks ago when its crews were allowed to attend venues around Sydney. None of the venues were on the northern beaches.
CHANGES TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA TRAVEL
South Australia will not close its border to NSW but has introduced restrictions for people arriving from Sydney, the state’s chief health officer Nicola Spurrier announced on Friday.
Travellers coming into SA who have visited Sydney’s northern beaches must quarantine at home but will still be allowed to enter.
However, anybody coming into the state who visited either the Avalon RSL or Avalon Bowlo must enter a medi hotel, which is managed by SA Police and protective security officers.
CHANGES TO NSW-VICTORIA BORDER
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley has told Victorians not to travel to Sydney, warning mandatory 14-day quarantine for entry to Victoria could soon be enforced.
A permit system will be introduced from 12am for all NSW residents travelling to Victoria.
People who have been to the Northern Beaches of Sydney since December 11 will not be granted a permit to travel to Victoria.
Other travellers who were in the region since December 11 and arrived in Victoria after midnight last night, must get tested and quarantine in their home or accommodation for 14 days from the date they left the Northern Beaches.
Chief health officer Brett Sutton also confirmed a close contact from the Northern Beaches cluster is in Victoria. He said they had been placed in emergency accommodation through the quarantine program and had not displayed any symptoms
SA REMAINS OPEN
South Australia will not close its border to NSW yet but travellers who have visited Sydney’s northern beaches must immediately quarantine, as the COVID-19 cluster grows.
The SA Government today ordered anyone who was linked to the Avalon cluster since last Friday, must immediately enter 14 days of quarantine.
The NSW border will not close at this stage but the cross-border online approval process will be relaunched, just days after the state’s top cop announced free travel.
QLD SHUTS TO NORTHERN BEACHES
Queensland’s border has shut to Sydney’s northern beaches, however anyone travelling from other parts of Sydney or NSW will still be allowed to enter.
“If people are from the Northern Beaches, it would be well advised for them to stay on the Northern Beaches,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters on Friday.
“When the NSW Premier says she is on high alert, we are on high alert as well.”
DRIVER NOT LINKED TO CLUSTER
No cases of COVID-19 have been linked to the Sydney driver who tested positive on Wednesday.
The 45-year-old man, who works as a driver transporting aircrew from the airport to hotels, did not spread the virus to anyone, Dr Chant confirmed.
“His close contacts have tested negative, obviously they are in isolation and we need to wait that full 14 days, but they don’t pose a risk to others at this time.”
The man was NSW‘s first community transmission of COVID-19 detected since December 3.
NSW Health issued a statement revealing the man’s viral genome sequencing does not match the virus strains seen in the Avalon cluster.
CRONULLA RSL ALERT
Cronulla RSL club has issued an alert after a positive COVID case visited on December 16.
“As per our COVID Safety Plan, the Club will be closed for the next 24 hours so we can conduct a thorough deep clean,” the club posted in a statement on Facebook today.
“We await further information from NSW Health and we will keep you updated should anything else change.”
TRAVEL PLANS IN LIMBO
Holiday-makers attempting to escape the state in anticipation of further border restrictions are madly attempting to change their flights.
It comes after several states introduced new emergency rules for travellers from Sydney’s northern beaches, where a cluster has now grown to 17.
The airlines are fielding a huge number of booking changes, with a spike in demand for flights out of Sydney bound for Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide.
Passengers who were bound for Perth have largely been cancelling their flights after the Western Australian government slammed the border shut to NSW residents.
BEACHES DECLARED HOT SPOT
Tasmania and the Northern Territory have declared the Northern Beaches Local Government Area a hot spot. Queensland and WA have also introduced restrictions.
Victoria is expected to announce travel changes today and South Australia remains open. Read the full list of changes here.
The outbreak that has shut down Sydney’s Northern beaches is a strain from the US.
Ms Berejiklian said it was not yet known how residents became infected and whether the virus was transmitted from international airline crew, hotel quarantine, or otherwise.
“We know the original source is an international source … it’s an international strain,” she said on breakfast television. “But obviously we are yet to work out how it got from the international source to the community.”
PUBLIC SPACES CLOSE
Northern Beaches Council issued the advice early on Friday which stated that it had taken “strong measures” to protect the health of the community.
The closure encompasses libraries, aquatic centres, gyms, art galleries and creative spaces, playgrounds, skate parks, tennis courts, golf courses, community centres and several council-run offices. All spaces will be closed until Monday. Child care centres are still open.
TESTING RUSH
A week out from the busy Christmas period, the timing of the outbreak could not be worse, with many Australians on edge over holiday bookings and festive gatherings.
Northern beaches residents have rushed to pop-up clinics, many queuing for hours.
By 7am today, a long queue had already formed outside the Avalon pop-up testing clinic.
One woman in line said she waited for three hours on Thursday before giving up, returning at 5am this morning. She was tested within two hours: “They’ve put on more nurses today.”
WHO SHOULD STAY HOME?
Residents in the Northern Beaches local government area have been asked to work from home and stay at home as much as possible and keep to their household group.
They are also asked to avoid “high-risk” venues like clubs, restaurants, places of worship and gyms. Travel outside the area is also off the cards.
Aged care homes in the area have been told not to accept visitors until the source of new COVID cases is identified.
IT WORKER TESTS POSITIVE
A deep clean has been ordered for the department of education’s offices in Eveleigh after an IT worker in the department tested positive.
The news came on Thursday night after the northern beaches cluster grew to 17 cases. All other staff in the departmental offices were sent home to self isolate until further notice. Corporate residents of the building were told the education department had organised a “pandemic clean” of their areas, and swipe card access would be required to enter the building “until further notice”.
Other residents told employees to monitor for symptoms and get tested if any occur. NSW health said a confirmed case had travelled from Roseville to Redfern on Monday.
RSL WARNING
NSW Health was yesterday working under the theory that someone who attended the RSL club was the original source of up to five cases identified on Wednesday and Thursday.
As well as venues on the northern beaches two new locations were added to coronavirus alerts this evening.
Anyone who attended Penrith RSL on December 13 between 1-6pm and the Kirribilli Club on December 14 between 12-3pm should get tested and isolate until they get a negative result.
Anyone who was in the northern beaches region planning to get into Queensland after 1am on Saturday December 19 will be forced into hotel quarantine.
Anyone who has been in the northern beaches since last Friday who gets into the sunshine state before then must now quarantine for 14 days since they were last in the hotspot.
Anyone who has visited the region since December 11 and is already in Queensland also needs to self isolate.
Western Australia has shut its border to NSW residents, with premier Mark McGowan declaring anyone coming into WA from the state will need to self-isolate for 14 days.
Anyone who has arrived in the state since last Friday needs to isolate until they return a negative test.
VENUE ALERTS
All Sydneysiders are being urged to get tested if they have “the mildest” of coronavirus symptoms after NSW Health issued an alert for 20 more venues linked to the northern beaches cluster.
New venues in the northern beaches, western Sydney, eastern suburbs and Sutherland Shire are on red alert after NSW Health discovered on Friday afternoon they were visited by members of Sydney’s growing COVID-19 cluster. Read the full list of venues NSW Health has issued alerts for here.
Splashdown! Day of disaster for Aussies in women’s America’s Cup
The women’s America’s Cup dream of an Australian crew is over after just two days of racing, a disastrous touchdown, a broken start penalty and erratic conditions. How it played out.
Council awarded more than $600k in compo battle over park, golf club
A Sydney council has secured a legal win against the NSW Government after disputing the amount of compensation it would receive for land forcibly acquired for a major tunnel project.