Hope of Christmas miracle as new cases fall in northern beaches cluster
The NSW government is cautiously optimistic, but federal health officials have privately warned that this week will pose Sydney’s greatest test.
The NSW government is cautiously optimistic that its strategy to reduce COVID-19 infections using a localised lockdown of Sydney’s northern beaches has succeeded in time for Christmas, with officials hopeful the cluster of cases around Avalon will remain contained over the coming days.
But ahead of a crisis cabinet meeting to decide whether restrictions should be adjusted on Wednesday, federal health officials have privately warned that this week will pose the greatest test for the city, as the outbreak surpasses its incubation period and further infections emerge.
“New cases may start to pop up from today, tomorrow and Wednesday,” said one senior federal health official, who was not authorised to speak publicly. “If they don’t, then I suspect they (NSW) will be largely in the clear.”
There were 15 new coronavirus infections linked to the northern beaches cluster in the 24 hours up to 8pm on Sunday, half the number recorded during the previous reporting period, taking the total to 83 cases.
Despite the limited number of new cases, Queensland moved on Monday to institute a hard border with NSW. Annastacia Palaszczuk announced concrete barriers and a heavy police presence would be raised along the border, with January 8 marking the earliest it could be dismantled.
Citing at least 27 close contacts of cases who had already tried to travel into the state, the Queensland Premier said: “We are concerned that there are people from the northern beaches who have travelled right around Australia, we believe there are people here in Queensland.”
Victoria is also unlikely to reopen its border with NSW even if new infections decrease, with the state’s Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton, warning there were “absolutely exposure sites outside of the (northern beaches)”.
“Those exposure sites are sometimes busy places,” Dr Sutton said. “There is every reason to think there might be cases now emerging outside of the northern beaches area.”
Gladys Berejiklian is expected to meet her crisis cabinet on Wednesday to determine whether an interim lockdown of the northern beaches and restrictions applying to the rest of Sydney should remain in place for Christmas.
But the NSW Premier said other states should make decisions about their borders “compassionately and based on facts”. She noted she had only restricted access to Victorians when daily case numbers had reached 140.
NSW authorities remain concerned about the potential for some of these cases to spread across the city, although most warnings issued on Monday regarding at-risk locations were confined to the northern beaches, including Pittwater RSL and restaurants in Newport, Narrabeen, Avalon and Mona Vale.
Of greater concern were cases linked to The Salon for Hair at Turramurra, which has been linked to five infections, and The Rose of Australia Hotel in Erskineville., in inner Sydney.
Chifley Tower in Sydney’s CBD has also been connected to several cases, although NSW Health said all employees in that office were in quarantine and “no ongoing risk to others (had) been identified”.
The MLC Centre in Sydney’s CBD has also closed its food court after a customer with COVID-19 purchased lunch there on December 15 between 1pm and 2pm.
Ms Berejiklian said the lower number of cases on Sunday was positive but there was “a level of volatility” and the final decision on restrictions would be made on Wednesday. “I appreciate how frustrating it is, and I would love to be able to tell everybody today what Christmas might look like in NSW or the northern beaches,” she said. “But we’re not in a position to do that yet.”
Deputy Premier John Barilaro later told Sky News: “I’m confident if the trend is as it is … there’s no reason the COVID grinch won’t take Christmas away.”
Other senior NSW government sources, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, said the latest COVID-19 figures had left officials “cautiously optimistic” about the success of the state’s response, though it stood to have a deleterious effect on consumer and business confidence.
While Ms Berejiklian called for masks to be worn across the city, NSW Labor is demanding the government make their use compulsory at least on public transport.
“Rather than just recommending masks in public transport, supermarkets and shopping centres why not make them mandatory,” Labor leader Jodie McKay said. “We only get once chance to prevent a second wave, we can’t afford the risk of confusion or regrets.”
Scott Morrison said on Monday the geography of the northern beaches — a peninsula with a small number of roads in and out — was helping control the spread of the virus.
“Those of you who know Sydney well know that the peninsula is a very cohesive community that tends to keep to itself, a bit like the (Sutherland) Shire down where I’m from and that is certainly… assisting in making sure that the Avalon outbreak is staying exactly where it is,” the Prime Minister said. “As we go into these next few days, we will be watching carefully as we endeavour to understand whether there has been further seeding, or any seeding I should say — there hasn’t been at this point — in other parts of the city.”
On Monday, two people from other parts of Sydney — the southwestern suburbs of Padstow and Bankstown — became the first to be fined and forced to leave the northern beaches after allegedly attempting to enter the area.
NSW Health is continuing to investigate how the virus jumped from a woman who arrived from Los Angeles on December 1 and went into hotel quarantine to the northern beaches, testing cleaners, drivers, health staff and flight crew.
Kerry Chant, the NSW Chief Health Officer, said: “This strain may well be present in other people that have come from the United States, so our investigations are broadly spread.
“So we actually have … gone back and reviewed all the CCTV footage around this individual.
“We’ve tested cleaners at the hotel … we’ve tested people who transported her when the person went to a health facility. We’ve looked at anyone who may have come in contact with her — even if they were wearing PPE. Also we are working with all of the international flight crew to get a sense of whether any flight crew who attended were in the country in the relevant time period.”
There were 38,578 tests taken in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, NSW Health said — significantly higher than on any day over the previous month.
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