UPDATE:2:24 PM

Bluesfest cancelled

Beef Week postponed.

UPDATE 11:58am

Ulysses AGM that was to be held at the Lismore Showgrounds from May 4-10 has been cancelled.

Event organiser Ron Gaudron has told the Lismore App the AGM will return to Lismore in either 2022 or 2023.

As we heard late on Friday afternoon, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the country that the Australian Federal Government is recommending the cancellation of non-essential organised events for 500 people or more from Monday, under advice from the Australia's Chief Medical Officer.

Major public events are being cancelled or postponed throughout the country like the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne and Hobart's Dark Mofo festival which draws crowds of 100,000 people while the NRL, AFL and FFA (soccer) look likely to playing behind closed doors at best or postpone the season.

Other musicians throughout the world have postponed concerts by some of the worlds biggest stars like Miley Cyrus and Michael Bublé and Robbie Williams. Even Disneyland has been closed only for the fourth time in history and Sydney's Royal Easter Show for the third time in history (Spanish Flu pandemic, Great Depression and now Coronavirus).

So, what does this means for our local events in the 2480 postcode?

There are quite a few urgent meetings happening this week to determine the fate of these upcoming events.

Relay For Life which was planned for Saturday March 28 and Sunday March 29 put out an email yesterday stating "The executive team at the CCNSW are in the process of assessing each up-coming event and determining an outcome for each in order of priority and event date. I have at this stage not been informed of a official decision on our RFL event but am aware the RFL Orange scheduled for yesterday was postponed".

We will hear a decision about this event in the coming days.

Next is Gemfest that is scheduled for May 16 & 17 at the Lismore Showgrounds. Vice President Jenny Vyrenhoek told the Lismore App that a meeting will be held tonight but it looks likely the event will be cancelled not postponed.

Good news from the iconic Lismore Lantern Parade team with Jyllie Jackson saying that the event will be postponed and not cancelled. This does need to be ratified at a board meeting on Wednesday afternoon so a definite result will follow on Thursday.

With other crowd based events being cancelled this is hurting the Lantern Parade's fundraising efforts so the immediate survival of the Lantern Parade itself is in jeopardy. As a community we will have the chance to help Jyllie and her team raise funds to keep this amazing organisation and the Lantern Parade on our calendar. More to come on this.

The term "non-essential" means that schools and universities will not be affected. Locally, Trinity Catholic College Lismore has about 1000 students while St John's College, Woodlawn has around 780 students.

In a letter to parents on Friday Trinity has outlined the measures they are undertaking to their day to day procedures like the cancellation of assemblies and any inter school sporting events.

Any students returning from over seas travel will need to be in self isolation upon their return to the Northern Rivers.

Remember, the best way to not catch the coronavirus is to practice good hygiene which includes regular hand washing and the use of hand sanitiser when you leave the house.

The Lismore Base Hospital has opened a Fever Clinic operating from 10am to 6pm. So, if you have flu like symptoms such as a sore throat, temperature and cough you can report to the clinic where you will be advised what to do next.

If you are going to your GP because of the same symptoms please ring ahead and let the receptionist know. Upon arrival a Doctor will come to your car to advise you. If you go into your GP's surgery you risk infecting other patients and potentially closing the clinic down for two weeks.

Keep in mind there is an influenza A virus spreading through the community right now. If you show symptoms don't panic that it is coronavirus, there are no confirmed cases in the Northern Rivers as I write. Follow the above procedure.

If you are unwell then practice self isolation, keep the kids home from school and day-care and ask family and friends to help with your daily chores.

While at home hand wash regularly and use hand sanitiser where possible.