Stay at home orders explained

WHILE the stay at home orders are clear for people who are living in Local Government Areas (LGAs) in lock down, stay at home orders also apply to anyone who has visited an affected LGA, such as Muswellbrook, Singleton and Armidale on or since Saturday, July 31.

Stay at home orders and essential reasons for leaving your home are published here: NSW Health.

PLEASE NOTE: On Thursday, August 8 the government extended their lock down of some LGAs by another 7 days. This means, anyone who visited these areas on or before July 31 needs to be under stay at home orders for a total of 14 days. Also, when a lock down is lifted in an area, the stay at home orders for people who have visited that area also lift.

David Layzell, Member for the Upper Hunter explains what this means for residents of the Upper Hunter Shire Council area, which is currently not in lock down, but has many residents who have travelled to affected areas.

“If you have visited an affected LGA on or before July 31, you are subject to stay at home orders,” said Mr Layzell.

“However, members of your household, who haven’t been to an affected area, are not subject to stay at home orders,” he said.

“While there have been no known cases of Covid in Muswellbrook or Singleton, it is an extra layer of protection for the Upper Hunter Shire Council community, that people who have visited those areas stay at home, while still allowing practical freedoms for the rest of their household,” he said.

“It is a different to a situation when someone is contacted by NSW Health to advise them they are a close contact or a confirmed case of Covid-19, in which case their whole household would need to be tested and not leave the home,” explained Mr Layzell.

“For people under stay at home orders, ideally they should work from home or do online learning, but we recognise that is not always possible for some workers or for children of essential workers who can’t stay at home by themselves,” he said.

“In those cases, people can continue to go to work and go to school and only leave their homes for the other essential reasons such as medical appointments and groceries,” he said.

“During stay at home orders you definitely can’t meet up with friends for lunch at a cafe, visit other people in their homes and generally socialise in the community, it’s about staying home and only leaving your home for essential reasons, which are all spelt out on the NSW Health website,” Mr David Layzell said.

Mr Layzell also confirmed people who are from affected LGAs such as Muswellbrook, can work, go to school or have medical appointments in Scone if it is one of the essential reasons to leave their homes, as listed on the NSW Health website.

Related stories:

• Covid cases identified in Armidale – August 7, 2021.
• Covid update: Two new cases linked to Newcastle cluster – August 6, 2021.
• More lock down questions answered – August 6, 2021.
• Covid restrictions: Some questions answered – August 5, 2021.
• Exemptions for weddings and funerals – August 5, 2021;
• Stay at home orders – impacting some residents of Scone – August 5, 2021.
• Hunter lock down restrictions and cases explained – August 5, 2021.
• Covid update: Hunter snap lock down starts at 5pm – August 5, 2021.