THE Hunter New England Local Health District contributed 103 cases yesterday from the NSW total of 406. Numerically, it was the biggest one-day figure since this wave, of 1995 cases so far, began on August 5.
And at 25.3 per cent of the state total, it is also the Hunter-New England's biggest contribution in relative terms.
Last Thursday, our 83 cases represented just 14 per cent of the 587 new cases announced statewide that day.
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Across NSW, daily case numbers have fallen steadily for five weeks and and are now down by almost 75 per cent on their September 9 peak of 1525.
By contrast, Hunter cases have risen steadily since September 1.
Given the warnings that case numbers would inevitably rise once people began moving more freely with the staged removal of lockdown provisions, the NSW total may well start to climb again some time soon.
South of the border, Victorian Premier Dan Andrews insisted the vaccination target of 70 per cent would be hit next week, allowing that state to relax its hard lockdown.
The latest figures showed 62.6 per cent of Victorians over 16 as fully vaccinated, with 87.1 per cent having had a first shot.
NSW is now days away from the second freedom trigger of 80 per cent, with 77.8 per cent of over-16s fully vaccinated and 91.4 per cent partly so.
State and federal leaders have been congratulating Australians for "rolling up their sleeves", and the nation is certainly making up for a slow start.
But the use of "over-16s" percentages masks the reality that Australia's overall vaccination rate is only a little above 52 per cent.
This is confirmed in the daily bulletins out of Canberra, which had 13,482,106 Australians as fully vaccinated yesterday, from an estimated population of 25.8 million.
Global comparisons show some 70 or so of the world's 195 countries ahead of Australia in vaccination rates.
Evidence emerged early on that children can catch and transmit COVID as easily as adults.
On average, though, their burden of disease is much lower.
It's the same situation - although again on average - for those who are vaccinated.
Official figures yesterday had just 21 of the Hunter-New England's 1446 active COVID cases in hospital, with four of those in intensive care.
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Even the best models are not crystal balls.
We will see what "living with COVID" is like when it happens.
But the region's low hospitalisation rate gives hope that it will be manageable.
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