With New South Wales reporting a further 52 deaths yesterday and 13,524 new cases in the 24 hours to 8pm last night it is little wonder that the community remain on edge of Omicron, especially given there are 2663 people with COVID-19 in hospital today, including 182 patients in ICU.
Tomorrow sees the return to school across NSW with children and parents being given set instructions on the need to carry out RAT tests twice weekly in order to attend. The children will be provided the RATs for free each week by the State Government but the failure of the system remains that RATs remain rare on the ground for the rest of the community and come at a cost of around $15 each for anyone not on a concession card.
In the South East our Omicron cases have had a major impact on our workforce and our local businesses. During summer our local health resources were pushed to almost breaking point and the testing requirements saw our local Testing Clinic staff absolutely hammered on a daily basis. As it was that system of testing failed due to overload.
In general there was little anticipation, planning, preparation and provision. It was a wildfire that saw Omicron cases exploding in Sydney to then have the Premier open the state up for Christmas travel.
As expected 'they came' and with their beach towels, thongs and beach umbrellas they brought Omicron.
The move was criticised at the time by residents highlighting our record numbers of older demographic and the shortfalls in health facilities and resources to cope with an influx, especially one that appeared to have little if any support from the Federal Government.
The rollout out failed, it turns out is was a race, and sadly it has resulted in the mess we now have with businesses closing their doors due to lack of any support, workers placed in a limboland between employment and CentreLink and now, with no certainty at all other than a hope it might work, kids are going back to the classroom.
Scott Morrison has not shown his face in the South East since the encounter at Cobargo. He is being widely ridiculed for his failures around Covid. The same justifiable criticism is now be handed out to the Premier of NSW. People are frustrated, angry and beginning to lash out at what they consider to be a failure of both the State and Federal Governments.
And the local by-election may well be a litmus test on the outcome of how the House of Cards will stand in the next State and Federal Elections, especially given that the Federal one might be in May 2022 and the State in March 2023.
In recent days there has been an extraordinary backlash of the volume of corflute posters that have been erected by Liberal supporters along the highway. While it is inevitable these will remain up as there appears to be no consequence that demands their removal a fresh approach to protest has seen community members, Labor, Green, Independent and non-political begin to deface the Liberal corflutes with a simple stick on.
Above:the issue of Covid management is obviously a seen as significant in the Bega electorate. This simple sticker, most likely mass printed, and applied with a flour-water glue is now rolling out across the region.
