AT a COVID press conference yesterday, Premier Dominic Perrottet made clear his determination to keep the state open despite the extraordinary transmissibility of the Omicron variant, saying the time had come for people to take "personal responsibility" for their health by being vaccinated and getting booster shots.
NSW Health denies that advice to government is being ignored, but chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant repeatedly urged people to take protective steps beyond those required by "the mandates".
Dr Chant warned that Omicron infected people very easily and quickly. It appeared to "evade the immune system" and cases were escalating "quite rapidly".
On one level, the government's stance has merit.
We did take responsibility for our own health before the pandemic, but the government stepped in precisely, as Health Minister Brad Hazzard said at the briefing, because it was a "one in 100-year" threat.
There is no argument that the economic and social impacts of the lockdowns have been profound.
But if the extraordinarily contagious Omicron goes on to infect 25,000 people a day by the end of January - the modelling confirmed yesterday at the COVID conference - then NSW and its health system could end up broken, which may be worse than being locked down.
Mr Perrottet said we had "always known" that cases would increase when restrictions were eased.
He urged the media to report hospitalisations as well as case numbers, the implication being that Omicron causes less serious illness than Delta.
From 6233 active cases yesterday, NSW had 166 people in hospital: 24 of those were in intensive care, and seven were on ventilators.
The Hunter figures, where health has confirmed almost all of the new cases as Omicron, are seven hospitalisations, with three in ICU, from 827 active cases.
COVID GLOBALLY:
- New rules in South Korea with 7000 cases and 70 deaths in 24 hours
- US death toll passes 800,000
- Auckland reopens as vax hits 90 per cent
- UK PM Johnson imposes new COVID rules against backbench opposition
- WHO questions West's booster drive as Third World starved of vaccines
NSW Health has confirmed, however, that hospital numbers lag case totals by a week, and Dr Chant said health systems around the world were still trying to ascertain Omicron's "clinical severity".
Mr Perrottet responded to a question about the predicted 25,000 cases a day by saying: "It is for me to look at evidence the evidence before us, not to pre-empt what may or may not happen."
Some might say, yes, but what we do today greatly impacts on what happens down the track.
ISSUE: 39,747
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