Thread by @iMusing

the NSW briefing is headed by Hazzard today. He has failed former Liberal Party leader and current Lifeline chair John Brogden with him to talk about mental health.

the health minister opens with test totals, death totals, and the vaccination status of people who have died. He then runs through each death. Once again, as per NSW government policy settings, the deaths are in west and south west Sydney.

he then leverages the vax status of people who have died for his vaccination #CovidComms. There is obviously no information about obstacles - to young people in particular - getting vaccinated.

a “super Sunday” for frontline workers is announced: Homebush, Bankstown, Macquarie Fields, and Prairiewood. Still no Blacktown or Penrith NSW Health vax hub unless I missed it.

Hazzard moves on to west and far west NSW. Like prisons, the NSW government totally neglected these areas and then rushed to catch up after the virus reached these areas - including courtesy of the carceral system when a Bathurst court bailed a criminalised man to Walgett.

thank you comms. Drink.

do not hesitate, says Hazzard, “for us to have our freedoms”. He refrains from calling people who have not yet been able to access the vaccine “stupid” or “selfish and entitled” today, which is a refreshing change.

McAnulty is up. Sewage fragments without known cases please get tested: Tamworth, Glen Innes and Port Stephens; Cooma; Kempsey.

over 80% of new cases are in south west Sydney, says McAnulty. We know, doc. Most are under 40, says McAnulty, and claims “the disease” - as opposed to the absence of adequate workplace policy settings from the NSW government - is impacting mostly younger people.

Brogden is up. This speech should have had a content warning. I am not going to repeat his disclosures.

exercise. Go for a walk. Get sun or wind or rain on your face, says Brogden. Fresh air. Don’t catastrophise, Brogden advises. Nothing on the health settings which are catastrophic for very specific, known, sectors of the population like Parklea private prison, for example.

asked about aged care facilities, Hazzard says it is not unusual for people to stay in situ if they do not require “hospital inputs”. He says 10,000 of the 11,000 total cases are “being managed” at home.

Q: how many people are getting hospital grade in home care like oxygen? Is the government trying to minimise hospitalisation numbers?
A: no. He heard this claim was in “one of the media” today. These are clinical decisions, says Hazzard.

flicks to McAnulty who says clinicians regularly review covid patients and if there is no need to be hospitalised then they are better off at home.

asked about people dying at home, McAnulty says there is a person who had not been tested for covid. Is care being compromised? Again, no. McAnulty repeats the clinical decision answer.

the hospitalisation numbers and tracking case numbers are important, says McAnulty. He cites demographics like age and gender being important “because young people might think” they are immune to covid and also get vaccinated.

why haven’t frontline workers been vaccinated earlier? Is there going to be vax mandates for frontline workers? If not, why not?
Hazzard says some people debated whether HCWs should be mandatory vax. Police were 1a under federal priorities. Tells an anecdote about a pregnant mum.

police are not currently mandatory vaccination, are they going to be?
Hazzard says he is health minister and worker vax rules are up to employers.

ambo vax status. Hazzard says the head of NSW ambulance sends out updates and then stresses to only call ambulances for emergencies. He does not mention the ambulance fee waiver for covid patients.

pretends there is an issue with ambulances attending people who need a bandaid or antibiotics. The likelihood that a call to 000 “for bandaids” get as far an ambulance attending, rather than weeded out by call staff, is zero.

more HITH questions. He can not guarantee there will be no more HITH in the future, says Hazzard, answering a question he asked himself.

the actual reason paramedics and ambulances are under enormous stress is because the outbreak is out of control and the NSW government has failed to contain it or flatten the curve across west and south west Sydney.

“the decision was taken some time ago” that authorised workers in the [extremely heavily policed highest disease burden] 12 LGAs have to be vaccinated by Monday. If they are not, they can not go to work.

are there enough volunteers on the phones at Lifeline?
They are averaging over a thousand calls a day (I think?) says Brogden, and that calls are up by 28%.

what is the government doing to make sure more cases are not spreading to the Hunter New England?
A: some individuals do illegal things. Police are policing.

Sounds like *the government* is doing nothing then.

W: the Burwood mayor wants to know why his LGA is in the [heavily policed strict lockdown] category when Inner West LGA, with many more cases, is not.
A: Dr Chant explained all that to the Burwood mayor.

Hazzard says the health team advised against lifting any restrictions on heavily-policed high-disease burden LGAs.
What he means is that NSW government politicians are gagging to provide privileges to the privileged when wealthy LGAs reach 70% double dose, as they soon will.

and with yet another preview of how Sydney Liberals intend to extend and more deeply entrench inequalities across the state, and a “see you at 11am tomorrow”, off they go👋🏼👋🏼

there was not a hint from any of them that these numbers are catastrophic and the NSW government has utterly failed everyone but the Liberal Party base - who are fine anyway.

https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1433958194875801602

team Brogden.