“It’s far from over, don’t be complacent”. 

As social restrictions ease across the local area and more cafes and restaurants open for dining, Northern NSW Local Health District chief executive Wayne Jones says “complacency can be as deadly as the disease”.

With two new coronavirus cases confirmed in the local district yesterday, today’s message from Mr Jones and the Richmond District Police is "it's not over".

“We’ve had two new coronavirus cases,” Mr Jones said.

“One from overseas, and one is being investigated – we can’t rule out it’s not community acquired.”

Mr Jones reiterated the need for people to maintain social distancing guidelines and good hygiene practices.

“You can now go out in groups of ten,” he said. “You can exercise, but maintain social distancing.

“Numbers of cases will increase - with businesses open, we are seeing people come back into town again, so we need to keep on top of this.”

Mr Jones said he and his family have downloaded the Covid-safe app and he encourages everyone else to do so too.

“It’s important that the Public Health Unit can use it to respond and identify contacts of people with the virus, as numbers of cases grow,” he said.

Mr Jones said our local health district had the highest numbers of testing for Covid-19 in regional NSW, and that in our area, we had seen an “unprecedented” uptake of the flu shot this year.

Cases not listed as recovered

Mr Jones said out of the 57 cases of coronavirus in our local area, 51 had recovered, two cases were new, and the other four cases had “not met the criteria to be classified as recovered”.

“They may still have some respiratory symptoms and they could be covid related or not,” he said.

“We don’t deem them recovered until they are free of symptoms for 72 hours. Until then, they will still be classified as active patients, recovering at home.

“Over 98% of cases in NSW do not need hospital care. They are mostly recovering at home – only a few were in critical conditions”.

Personal Infringement Notices

Richmond Police District Crime Manager, Detective Chief Inspector Cameron Lindsay said yesterday in Lismore two people were handed Personal Infringement Notice (PIN) fines of $1000 each.

“The PINs were for breaching social distancing and non-essential travel rules,” he said.

“They were given to people who had come to Lismore from out of town.”

Chief Inspector Lindsay said if any businesses were to breach social restrictions, they would be handed a $5000 fine.

“But we are trying to work with the business community to help get the economy going again,” he said. “Police will be out and about enforcing and monitoring new public gathering rules, including how sporting clubs are managing social distancing while they are on the field.”