A number of Hunter councils with no reported COVID-19 cases have been swept up in the new lockdown, but one local government area in the region has been excluded.
New restrictions were introduced Thursday for the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens, Singleton, Dungog, Muswellbrook and Cessnock LGAs, but Upper Hunter Shire has not been included.
Upper Hunter Shire borders both Muswellbrook and Dungog and includes the townships of Aberdeen, Merriwa, Scone and Murrurrundi.
Upper Hunter MP Dave Layzell said the decision was based on the "risk profile" of how people lived and worked in each LGA. There are no coal mines in the Upper Hunter shire, whereas there are multiple in both Singleton and Muswellbrook.
"A lot of people travel up and live at Maitland and live on Lake Macquarie," Mr Layzell said.
"If it had just been in Lake Macquarie it would have been very much line-ball. Do we go to the Upper Hunter or not? But once it was in Maitland, these are communities of influence of each other. People live here, they work there and they're going back and forth so it changed the risk profile for those in Singleton and Muswellbrook to a much higher level.
"And a lot of that goes for Dungog as well. Dungog's gone in because a lot of people there live their lives through Maitland.
"When it comes to Scone, it's just that little bit further out. Their lives come back down into Muswellbrook and their lives go back up to Tamworth so the likelihood of those people living down in Maitland is very small. The risk profile is less.
"But if we get cases back up into Muswellbrook and Singleton, Upper Hunter is next. If Tamworth goes, it will include Upper Hunter as well."
Singleton mayor Sue Moore said it "make sense" for her area to be included in the lockdown.
"It doesn't take much for this virus to move around," she said. "If it's already in Maitland, Maitland's next door to us. It could already be in Singleton and we just don't know it yet.
"You can only stop the virus by restricting people movement and of course the vaccinations.
"We'll continue to receive more information as it comes to hand from NSW Health. I understand the doses that were pulled from the Hunter will be returned to the Hunter but we're not sure how they'll be distributed."
Upper Hunter mayor Maurice Collison said he was advising constituents to limit their movements as much as they could despite not officially being in the lockdown.
"Just use common sense, unless you have to go, I strongly recommend staying home," he said.
