Premier: Small Towns Could Change Quickly

PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian has urged more people to come forward for testing, cautioning even in small country towns the disease can spread rapidly.

The government has also announced $30million of energy rebates and the Premier said it is not up to the state to decide what is ‘essential’ business, if businesses are open you can purchase products such as shoes for your child or a new bed.

“Unfortunately what we’ve seen with covid-19 is that it only takes one or two people in the community to have it for it to spread very quickly and very horribly,” said the Premier.

“And that doesn’t matter where you are in New South Wales, aged care homes are throughout the whole state, vulnerable institutions and vulnerable people live across the state and it would concern me if anyone in the state thought they could be complacent,” she said.

“Just because you might live in a small town where nobody has it, that could change very quickly.

“So even thought we are doing well, we can’t have any room for complacency and we’ve sen in other countries, other countries that were held up as examples of how well they were doing are suddenly going through strife now, because perhaps they overlooked something or they were complacent I don’t want New South Wales to ever be in that situation but it can happen,” she said.

“…it can spread very quickly and obviously not every regional town has access to as many intensive care beds as someone in a larger town might have and for those reason we have to be vigilant no matter where we are,” said Premier Berejiklian.

The Chief Medical Officer said, “as we consider changes to restrictions and other matters it’s important that we have very high levels of testing.”

In Scone, to make an appointment for a test between 1:30pm and 3:30pm each weekday, simply phone the Scott Memorial Hospital: 02 6540 2100.

Health Update

• 2 new cases have been identified
• 3,004 confirmed cases in New South Wales
• 2,227 people have recovered
• 36 people have died
• 160 people are being treated
• 19 people are in ICU
• 15 are on ventilators

Energy Rebates:

The government has announced $30million in energy rebates for people suffering financial hardship because of covid-19.

People may be eligible for a $1,600 rebate on their gas and electricity rebates through the Service NSW website or by phoning 13 77 88..

Independent retirees can also access a $200 rebate, with a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.

Essential Activities:

The Premier explained it is not up to the state to decide what is “essential” for people to be purchasing, which may be a new pair of shoes, or a new bed for a child.

“Can I say this about shops and retail, New South Wales has taken a very different position to Queensland or Victoria, we’ve essentially said if a shop is open you can go an buy something so long as you practice social distancing and that’s really important,” said Premier Berejiklian.

“So it doesn’t matter where you go, even if you are buying a loaf of bread, if there’s too many people in the store, that’s not acceptable,” she said.

“It’s not up to me to decide what is essential for you to do…it’s about good social distancing,” said Premier Berejiklian.