Duncan MacKinnon says Delta will spread to south coast despite Sydney lockdown

Amid vaccination confusion and no ICU beds, an award-winning GP says the Delta variant will reach the south coast by Christmas.

The Delta outbreak that has seen Greater Sydney locked down for almost two months could reach the south coast by Christmas, and award-winning GP has said.

“The reality is we are all in this together,” Bega GP and last year’s Royal Australian College of General Practitioners GP of the year, Duncan MacKinnon, said this week.

The GP was behind a move to provide hand sanitiser and dispensers to local businesses along the south coast during a shortage of both early in the pandemic.

Dr MacKinnon said the Sydney outbreak will “grow”, and reach regional areas like Orange over coming months, and the south coast by the end of the year.

Award-winning GP Duncan MacKinnon has no doubt the Delta variant will reach the south coast over coming months.

“This variant is very contagious, and we will lose control at some point,” he said.

“Our only solution is vaccination.”

On Thursday it was announced NSW will receive a fresh injection of nearly 185,000 Pfizer jabs over the next two weeks, with 20,000 of those doses will be sent to regional areas to replace vaccines sent to Sydney for Year 12 students.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian ordered a snap lockdown for the Hunter and Upper Hunter as the outbreak spread north, with the state recording 262 new infections and five deaths.

The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District is currently investigating two cases currently isolating at home in Wollongong, which is also in lockdown, and one resident is currently in hospital with the disease.

Dr MacKinnon said the AstraZeneca is a costly and time consuming business model for pharmacists, and while some doctors are administering the jab, a large number of over 60s are still not vaccinated on the south coast.

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant discusses the highly contagious Covid-19 delta variant on Thursday. Picture: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

“The statistics are terrible,” he said. “Australia is the most advanced country in the world with monitoring, but we will have a case of Delta here by Christmas.”

The Southern NSW Health District said it is reviewing PPE stocks and COVID-19 response plans in preparation for possible cases on the south coast.

“We have just finished reviewing entry screening procedures at all sites,” a spokeswoman said.

“We continue to encourage testing and vaccinations as the best ways the community can be part of the team effort to keep our District safe.”

Kathleen McCann was among thousands to receive a text cancelling scheduled Pfizer vaccinations.

South coast resident Kathleen McCann, 60, was booked in to receive her first Pfizer dose on August 16, but had her appointment cancelled the day after Sydney went into lockdown.

She said she expects the Delta strain will reach the south coast within months.

“I was so disappointed when I got a text saying it had been cancelled and they would be in touch,” she said.

“I’ve heard nothing since.”

Ms McCann described the long wait times for AstraZeneca as “mental”, and said all she can do is contact her GP for the best current information.

“The Pfizer doses will probably all go to the Central Coast because that’s where it’s blown up,” she said.

“It won’t take much to blow up anywhere, because it just takes one person.

“It’s mad.”

She said the constant “changing of the goalposts” around who should and can receive what vaccine has regional residents concerned.

“It’s scary, but I just keep safe,” she said.

“It’s been so mishandled all around the world.

“People don’t know what to do or how to handle it.

“What we know today could change tomorrow. It’s changing so rapidly.”

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said 20,000 Pfizer doses will be sent to the NSW regions over coming weeks. Picture: Menahem Kahana

Moruya doctor, Michael Holland, said while vaccinations, good quarantine, and accurate contact tracing would help keep the south coast safe, a lack of ICU beds may become an issue.

“The south coast from the Eurobodalla to Bega has a population of approximately 80,000 people,” he said.

“Obviously not all fall into the vaccination age group, but we have a very high aged population and Indigenous population who are vulnerable.

“Canberra is the closest referral ICU to the south coast, and the Eurobodalla or Bega could only cope with one patient for just a few hours in preparation for their transfer.”

The Southern NSW Local Health District and NSW Health have been contacted for comment.