AS an Adelaide person caught in the Newcastle lockdown, I am bewildered by the lack of restrictions here in NSW. No wonder the virus continues to spread.
"Stay at home" is a concept only in NSW, not a strong message. People can exercise all day and sit around on beaches, as pictured at Bondi ('Premier: more jabs leads to more freedoms', Newcastle Herald 12/8).
The foreshore and beach shared pathways in Newcastle are thick with walkers, runners and cyclists. No social distancing is possible, with only the occasional person wearing a mask! In South Australia we had a 2.5-kilometre exercise limit, and at varying times either a one or two hour maximum limit. Coffee shops; surf shops and skate parks were closed while playgrounds, outdoor exercise stations, BMX tracks and water stations were all sealed off from use. House inspections and visits to holiday houses were banned. Police were obviously out and about monitoring this.
I feel sorry for the small business owners and workers in Newcastle as this weak Clayton's lockdown will only prolong their suffering.
Kay Haarsma, Mayfield
Is Hunter's share of Pfizer fair?
WHEN the Belmont Vaccination Hub opened it was a Pfizer-only clinic transferred from John Hunter Hospital. The capacity was said to be maximum 20,000 doses per week. The Premier then cancelled appointments scheduled for early August and reallocated them to Year 12 students in Sydney. It was said to be around 5000 doses. The Premier bristled at the suggestion that this decision was politically motivated.
Five days after the cancellations Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised the return of all reallocated vaccines. Ms Berejiklian emphatically stated that all the cancelled vaccines had been returned. The number of missing doses amounts to about one quarter of a week's capacity. The math just doesn't seem to add up. I feel sorry for the additional administrative work created for the staff at the Belmont hub to cancel and rebook, but the website is still saying no bookings due to reallocation of doses to HSC students, with no appointments available through to the end of November.
The community would appreciate if Hunter New England Health would advise the number of weekly Pfizer doses administered at JHH before the clinic transfer, the number of weekly Pfizer doses administered at Belmont hub before the cancellations, the number of weekly Pfizer doses allocated to the Belmont hub in August prior to cancellation and the number of weekly Pfizer doses allocated to the Belmont hub for the remainder of August, September, October and November.
Is the Hunter receiving its fair share of the Pfizer vaccine? There are still 1A, 1B and essential workers trying to get their preferred Pfizer vaccine in the region. The daily press conferences and Parliament Question time routinely sprout the number of daily doses rolled out. If this issue is not political, then there should be no problem with the transparency of Hunter New England Health providing this information.
There is also talk of restrictions easing and greater freedoms for the vaccinated once vaccinations reach a certain threshold. The threshold for easing restrictions should not just be based on the Sydney vaccination rate but a uniform one across the whole state.
Warren Sager, Cooks Hill
Build case for construction rule
MY understanding is that having the vaccine does not prevent one from contracting or spreading COVID. It does, however, lessen the impact of the virus and reduce the possibility of hospitalisation. That's great news. Why is it that our Premier is allowing construction workers to return to work, provided they have been vaccinated, when they are still capable of spreading the virus? I'll tell you why - the economy that is why she is making the rules on the run. It is not good enough to put lives at risk for the sake of the almighty dollar.
Lockdown should mean just that. I don't see construction workers as different from any other worker. One in, all in!
Stan Keifer, Arakoon
Sydney steel ring too little, too late
IF ever there was a greater example of shutting the gate after the horse has bolted, the government's decision to introduce a permit system to leave Greater Sydney is it.
Ever since the Sydney lockdown started, the howls of a "ring of steel" were almost deafening. Whilst keeping supply chains open is essential, allowing just anyone to leave Sydney to go to a beach party, deliver furniture or look at a house is bordering on insanity. Deemed too hard by the government, it is bewildering that they were able to place hundreds of police at almost 50 Victorian border crossings last year but not on the roads entering or exiting Sydney.
Now, many regions, including the Hunter are in lockdown, all of which can be traced back to the Sydney Delta outbreak. We are fortunate here in Newcastle to have a health system that would hopefully manage any surge in demand, but the people in remote regional NSW will be at a huge disadvantage should the worse happen, given the vast distances and limited ICU capacity.
The sceptic in me suggests that the government wanted to have the outbreak leak into the regions as it drives their agenda of "get tested" and "get the vaccine". Nothing is a better motivator than fear.
Let's hope that regional NSW remembers this and where the blame sits, come next state election.
Pat Lannen, Maitland
Don't pass judgment on the past
I FOUND what I thought to be a lot of key words in the article "Health slams trading plan" (Herald, 11/8). Hunter New England Health stated that extending the trading hours of Finnegan's Hotel would "likely" contribute to further alcohol-related harm. Finnegan's "had been" identified as high risk as part of the state's violent venues scheme, but had not been in that category "for several years".
HNEH's submission against the extended trading hours also highlighted how the Newcastle trading restrictions introduced in 2008 had led to a 30 per cent reduction in "police-attended" non-domestic assaults. My takeaway from all this is that HNEH are basing their beliefs about what might happen if the trading hours at Finnegan's are extended on how things were at Finnegan's several years ago (before the violent venues scheme was abandoned), and they still can't be certain. Also, after said trading restrictions were introduced in 2008, I believe there were allegedly numerous instances where non-domestic assaults were not attended by police. This would explain a reduction in reported assaults, but not necessarily mean that there was actually ever a reduction in assaults of 30 per cent at all.
Adz Carter, Newcastle
SHORT TAKES
SHAME on you Gladys, what a fine mess you have got New South Wales in. Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, asked for you to put a ring of steel around Sydney. And all you have done is wrapped it in cotton wool and incompetence. You're a disgrace.
Doug Dowton, Toronto
STEVE Barnett, (Short Takes,12/8), we all must play the game. We are at the mercy of imbeciles. This Delta virus is the most infectious we have had. Go on like the rest of us, but don't forget who let it in here.
Gary Hayward, Cardiff
THEY'VE done a great job with the amenities and park outside of the apartments on the foreshore, but I have to wonder if they are for the residents only as there is no toilets built making it difficult for parents and children using the area if they need to access a toilet. Another failure of building pretty, but not practical.
Debra Forbes, Wickham
WELL may we say God save the Queen, but nothing will save the prime minister.
Craig Swan, Kotara South
IN reply to Margaret Badger, (Short Takes, 13/8), I spoke to a local arborist recently and he identified several Lake Macquarie pines as Cook Pines which are thinner in shape than Norfolk pines and all have an inherent tendency to lean to one side. They were named by Captain James Cook's arborist on his second Pacific voyage. I noticed a good photo example near the harbour foreshore in a recent Herald article.
Bruce Harris, Valentine
FLAGRANT lockdown breaches must surely lead to custodial sentences. Sure would stop them spreading their viruses.
Damien Sloane, New Lambton Heights
IN the recent Herald story "MPs urge Pitt to kill off PEP 11" shows people with a sign WE THE PEOPLE. When did I or others give these people permission to speak for us?. I may not agree with their point of view so please do not include me in your campaign to offend my rights to my opinion. Don't include me in your ravings.
John Bradford, Beresfield
WOULD it be possible for lawsuits on behalf of Hunter residents against people who have deliberately broken the law bringing COVID to the region? Surely they are responsible for lost jobs and closed business.
Steve Barnett, Fingal Bay
THE blame game is useless, using up people's energy needlessly. Vaccinations made compulsory is the only answer as it was in the good ol' days when polio and other childhood diseases were apparent.
Sue Burrough, Carey Bay
PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian, "can I say this": don't bother running candidates in the Hunter at the next state election, because you won't have a hope in Hades of winning. Save your money.
Daryl Frost, Eleebana
LOCKDOWN week two; after the one that did nothing.
