Fully vaccinated people living in New South Wales, Australia, will be granted more freedoms next month as a reward for the state hitting the target of six million jabs. The freedoms include spending time outside as a family, as long as the duration of the event does not exceed one hour in the Greater Sydney area and other “areas of concern.” If a person lives in an area with low transmission rate or no COVID cases, they could enjoy such one-hour gatherings with people from other households if the total number of attendees is fewer than five, including children.
According to the NSW government website, the following individual freedoms will be “allowed” for adults who have received both doses of the COVID vaccine, starting 12:01 a.m., September 13:
- For those who live outside the LGAs [local government areas] of concern, outdoor gatherings of up to five people (including children, all adults must be vaccinated) will be allowed in a person’s LGA or within 5 km [3.1 miles] of home.
- For those who live in the LGAs of concern households with all adults vaccinated will be able to gather outdoors for recreation (including picnics) within the existing rules (for one hour only, outside curfew hours and within 5 km of home).
“This is in addition to the one hour allowed for exercise,” the site informs.
Announcing the measures, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the lockdowns and other restrictions will continue until midnight, September 10, even though they were previously set to expire on August 28. She mentioned that even though some of the LGAs “don’t have any cases, never had any cases,” they still must adhere to the lockdown rules “as a precaution” recommended by the health authorities.
Berejiklian thanked all of the people who came forward to receive their vaccines, “because the more jabs we get into arms, the sooner we can lift restrictions.” Still, she asked people whenever they leave home “to assume you have the virus, and anyone you come in contact to has the virus,” implying NSW still has a long way to go in terms of fighting COVID.
In the meantime, the reward for those who rolled up their sleeves is coming. If one has friends or relatives living in their LGA, they will soon have an opportunity to “congregate together.” Berejiklian seemingly compassionately added, “We know that people coming together is what people miss the most.” The NSW premier remarked that various options were considered as a reward for vaccinated people, but easing outdoor gathering restrictions was the option that met the mental-health needs and well-being of the community in a low-risk setting. She further explained that the delay until the middle of next month was to “allow the recent surge of vaccines to take effect.” Currently, about 3.9 out of 7.3 million of the state’s population is vaccinated against COVID, with the premier saying that figure should reach four million by the end of the week.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr. Kerry Chant said people being able to see each other outdoors was a “balance of COVID-19 risk and compassion.” While recognizing the mental-health impact of lockdowns, she stressed that to “avail yourself” of the freedoms, you have to be fully vaccinated. Chant added that this opportunity was a thank you to the community but understood that for many people, it may seem like “not too much.” “These steps are baby steps recognizing the serious situation we are in and I think it’s important that we are allowing those interactions, human interactions in outdoor space,” Chant noted.
To enjoy an additional hour outdoors, fully vaccinated individuals older than 18 must have proof of their vaccination status. The government provides for such options as a digital certificate that may be downloaded on a smartphone. For those old-fashioned folks, their vaccination provider would print a paper version of the certificate. Moreover, fully vaxxed Aussies may call the Australian Immunization Registry that keeps track of all and every single vaccine dose given and ask for their certificate to be mailed to them.
The NSW government website also provides for new vaccination goals, the reaching of which would allow for more freedoms. When 70 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, “a range of family, industry, community and economic restrictions [will] be lifted for those who are vaccinated.” When 80 percent get the jab, there will be “further easing of restrictions on industry, community and the economy.” It is not specified when the restrictions will be fully lifted. Previously, Premier Berejiklian stated that her government wants the number of COVID infections to come as “close to zero” as possible, even though she admitted this week that goal was “completely unrealistic.” Berejiklian refused to put a concrete figure on how many cases and deaths were expected when NSW opened up.
NSW took a heavy-handed approach in addressing COVID transmission, looking to prevent every single case at any price. For that, they imposed strict lockdown rules that prohibit most travel outside the LGA. Generally, the population is not allowed to leave their homes, with few exceptions officially dubbed “reasonable excuses.” Businesses that do not require employees to work from home if they are reasonably able to do so face a fine of up to $10,000 (7,258.75 USD) for corporations, and up to $2,000 (1,451.75 USD) for individuals. Facemasks are to be worn in most indoor and outdoor public settings. To make sure the residents obey the rules and don’t protest, NSW has deployed the military and expanded police presence. People were asked not to be friendly with each other and to not start up conversations with neighbors as an “additional layer of protection.” Reportedly, Queensland, Australia, is now building a COVID quarantine facility, which some are referring to as a “COVID concentration camp.”
