It was teased by Bathurst MP Paul Toole to the Western Advocate on Friday last week, and the NSW Government confirmed on Monday that October 11 will indeed be the date the state largely emerges from lockdown, with freedoms to only be allowed for fully vaccinated people.
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From October 11, five people will be allowed to visit a place of residence [excluding children under 12], up to 20 will be able to gather outdoors and most closed venues will be able to reopen under the one person per four square metre rule [with standing while drinking permitted outside at pubs and clubs].
However, Greater Sydney residents will have to wait until NSW hits 80 per cent fully vaccinated before being able to venture into regional areas.
In the 24 hours to 8pm Sunday, Bathurst recorded zero new cases of COVID-19, with the region having now gone eight of the past nine days without a new case.
While not ruling out the possibility of Bathurst exiting lockdown slightly earlier than October 11, Western NSW Local Health District chief executive officer Scott McLachlan said the situation will be further assessed in the coming days.
"We have an expert panel of epidemiologists, public health representatives and specialists meeting on a daily basis to consider the public health situation of each respective local government area [LGA]," Mr McLachlan said.
"Typically, the approach has been to have a 14-day window where there hasn't been an infectious case in the community, and this expert panel should have a decision on Bathurst very soon should things track well."
While acknowledging the excitement of lockdown nearing its end, Mr McLachlan said it's "crucial to maintain strict caution around the public health orders, with the Delta variant still a risk to vulnerable residents.
NSW Police Western Region commander Assistant Commissioner Brett Greentree said police will use risk-based measures to tailor COVID-safe compliance operations to respective LGA's as the lockdown lifts.
"We've currently got LGA's next to each other with different restrictions, so that's a challenge in itself," Assistant Commissioner Greentree said.
"Our current focus areas are LGA's where there's still COVID-19 circulating in the community, but crime statistics across the region have been down, which is pretty good."
"Larger communities are certainly the bigger worry, as there's more people around, but our Traffic and Highway Patrol teams are well equipped to respond to the challenge, and we will move officers around in regards to where the bigger risks are across the region."
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Sam Bolt
"I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them." -Nick Cave
"I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them." -Nick Cave
