AUTHORITIES in Sunraysia planning for a potential coronavirus outbreak say accommodation for people unable to isolate at home will be the region’s “biggest challenge”.
Three new COVID-19 cases were identified in Wilcannia and two new cases in Broken Hill on Friday, bringing case totals to nine in Wilcannia and three in Broken Hill.
No positive cases had been identified in Wentworth Shire or the Mildura region late Friday, but Mildura Rural City Council (MRCC), Mildura Base Public Hospital (MBPH) and Mallee District Aboriginal Services said they were preparing for positive cases to emerge locally.
“We have to be prepared and be mature enough to think we’re going to get more cases,” MBPH chief executive Terry Welch said.
A spokesperson for MDAS told reporters on Thursday she believed people from Dareton, Wentworth and Mildura attended last week’s funeral in Wilcannia, which has since been identified as the centre of a coronavirus outbreak affecting 12 people.
The preparations are taking place as the NSW Government plans to lift lockdown for any regions with no positive COVID-19 cases on Monday, August 30.
MDAS chief executive Jacki Turfrey said the organisation was setting up a support line and would offer food packages, medication deliveries and other supports to anyone who needed to isolate on either side of the Murray River.
The organisation’s “biggest challenge” would be “accommodating family groups who are required to go into isolation, if that happens”, she said, adding that “a lot of our families are pretty big, they’re large groups”.
MDAS was in the process of identifying hotels, motels and other accommodation that may be able to accommodate people if needed, she said.
Anyone who attended the Wilcannia funeral has been asked to isolate and get tested, but support workers hold concerns that isolation may be difficult for individuals living in large family groups.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the NSW Government was offering support for people to isolate only if they tested positive to the coronavirus, and not if they were directed to isolate by a health order.
“It’s only when those test results (come back) that you are positive, that then those other arrangements can be made,” he said.
He urged anyone who had visited Wilcannia recently to “go get tested”.
For anyone who tested positive to the coronavirus, “we have arrangements in place for accommodation, food supplies, all of that”, he said.
MRCC acting chief executive Martin Hawson said the council, in partnership with Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council, had “a pretty good support structure for people that can isolate in their own homes”, including food support.
MRCC would “look at” extending support across the river to NSW “if we were called upon”, Mr Hawson said.
Mr Welch said the hospital had a plan in place should a local outbreak occur, and was able to “flex (the hospital’s 1100 workers) up and down to move staff to critical areas (if needed)”, as well as draw workers from other regions if necessary.
“We’ve proven (through Mildura’s last COVID-19 outbreak) we’ve got our own internal mechanisms that work,” he said.
A spokesperson for Wentworth Shire Council said a local emergency management committee (LEMC) was responsible for “support(ing) NSW Health’s response to protect the whole community, including the delivery of support programs for residents impacted by any crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic”.
“Council’s role is to support the actions of the LEMC,” the spokesperson said.
