COVID by the numbers Friday – 4 new Hawkesbury cases in 2756 postcode – celebrate Halloween safely

Welcome to Friday evening and our in-depth Hawkesbury numbers and COVID local news.

This round-up of Hawkesbury COVID numbers is compiled by numbers guru Kevin Pollard using NSW Health datasets, and is up to 8pm on Thursday evening.

Our thanks, as always, to Kevin for putting the numbers together in this easily accessible format.

Coupled with our regular news updates when we hear about new COVID venues, this builds into a useful daily source of information for Hawkesbury residents.

Today’s headlines:

* 4 new COVID cases in the Hawkesbury – 2 of which are from an unknown source and not linked

* There are 142 active cases (was 145 yesterday) in the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, which includes the Hawkesbury

* There are 11 active COVID cases in the Hawkesbury (was 10 yesterday)

* Of the 268 new NSW cases (was 293 yesterday) reported to 8pm, Thursday, October 28 – 13 are from Nepean Blue Mountains LHD

* There are 3951 active cases (was 4068 yesterday) in NSW.

* In the Nepean Blue Mountains LHD, there were 11 cases yesterday, 9, 5, 9, 13, 6, 15, 10, 13, 27, 10, 6, 4 on previous days.

* There were 82,840 COVID-19 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous days of 89,678, 89,875, 71,352, 59,612, 66,740, 64,118, 76,594, 86,235, 88,664, 90,597 tests.

* The Sydney Morning Herald reported this morning discussions are underway within the NSW government to scrap the December 1 opening for the unvaxxed, in favour of 95% double dose (of those 16 years and over) in NSW. 95% fully vaccinated in NSW is expected to be reached by December 18.

* The SMH also reported the NSW government is considering moving forward some aspects of the road map that were originally slated for December 1.

* A concerning six-month 10,000-person study by the University of Oxford in the UK, finds Long COVID (this is where some COVID illness may linger in some instances for 6 to 12 months, or even longer) symptoms are equally common in new infections in fully vaccinated people as infections in unvaxxed people.

Being fully vaccinated does of course reduce the chance (by around 70-75%) of getting infected in the first place, and figures show there’s only a 5% chance of ending up in ICU if fully vaccinated (all ages).

* An ABC investigation has uncovered a black market trade on the covert messaging system Telegram for people in Sydney interested in sourcing the unproven COVID treatments Ivermectin and Doxycycline.

* And what about Halloween? NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty today: “Halloween is coming up [this Sunday – October 31], please celebrate it in a COVID safe way. Celebrations outside, provide closed packaging for treats instead of communal lolly bowls, distribute treats along front fence, or hidden in front yard. Keep it local, rather than going to well known ‘treat streets’ that may be further afield. Don’t share costume face masks.”

* There were 33 reported NSW school closures yesterday. There have been at least 172 school closures due to COVID in NSW since beginning of Term 4 on October 5 (today is the 19th school day since then).

New COVID cases in the Hawkesbury by postcode

* 4 in the 2756 postcode (Windsor, Sackville, Wilberforce, Bligh Park, Clarendon, Ebenezer, Mulgrave, Pitt Town, South Windsor, Freemans Reach, McGraths Hill, Upper Colo, Central Colo, Colo Heights, Lower Portland, Glossodia)

Total active COVID cases in the Hawkesbury – and postcodes they are in

* 6 in the 2756 postcode (Windsor, Sackville, Wilberforce, etc) – was 3 yesterday

* 5 in the 2758 postcode (Bilpin, East Kurrajong, Kurrajong, Kurrajong Heights, Kurrajong Hills, Mountain Lagoon, Wheeny Creek, Mount Tomah, Berambing, Blaxlands Ridge, Devils Wilderness) – was 5 yesterday

*0 in the 2753 postcode (Richmond, Richmond Lowlands, Londonderry, Grose Vale, Grose Wold, Bowen Mountain, Hobartville, Yarramundi, Agnes Banks) – was 1 yesterday

* 0 in the 2754 postcode (North Richmond, Tennyson, The Slopes) – was 0 yesterday

COVID deaths and hospital numbers – 2 deaths in the last 24 hours – none in the Hawkesbury

A woman in her 90s died at the Tarrawanna aged care facility, north of Wollongong, where she acquired her infection. She was not vaccinated and is the fourth death linked to an outbreak at this facility.

A man in his 70s died at the Mercy Place Aged Care Facility in Albury, where he acquired his infection. He had received one dose of a COVID vaccine and is the third death linked to an outbreak at this facility.

There have been 512 COVID-related deaths in NSW since this Delta outbreak started on June 16.

At least 42 of the 512 have died at home, and 24 of those didn’t know they had COVID at the time of death.

At least 78 of the 510 COVID-related deaths in NSW since June 16 were fully vaccinated.

The 78 deaths among people fully vaccinated were 4 people in their 50s, 5 people in their 60s, 25 people in their 70s, 23 people in their 80s and 21 people in their 90s.

The large majority of the people that were fully vaccinated and died of COVID had underlying health issues, over half had significant health issues, almost a quarter were in palliative care, some had disabilities.

6.05 million of NSW’s 8.2 million residents are fully vaccinated, 78 of those have died of the virus.

There are 363 patients with COVID (was 381 yesterday) in hospital, with 80 (82 yesterday) people in ICU, 32 (38 yesterday) of whom require ventilation.

There have been 69,064 locally acquired cases reported since June 16, when the first case in this outbreak was reported.

Vaccinated numbers – in NSW, by the end of today, October 29

16 years and over: 87.4% fully vaccinated and 93.7% first dose.

12-15 year olds: 60.3% fully vaccinated and 79.2% first dose.

16-19 year olds: 75.1% fully vaccinated and 89.0% first dose.

All 8.2 million NSW residents (aged 0 and over): 73.5% fully vaccinated and 80.3% first dose.

All 25.9 million Australian residents (aged 0 and over): 63.5% fully vaccinated and 74.0% first dose.

NSW COVID vaccination status (of cases during Delta outbreak from June 16 until October 28)

Based on NSW Health Surveillance Reports to October 9, and cases since.

512 COVID deaths: 66.4% were not vaccinated (340 people), 18.4% had received 1 dose (94 people), 15.2% were fully vaccinated (78 people).

1143 in ICU: 84.0% not vaccinated, 11.2% had received 1 dose, 4.8% were fully vaccinated

8349 hospitalised: 80.4% not vaccinated, 11.1% had received 1 dose, 8.5% were fully vaccinated

69,064 cases: 77.9% not vaccinated, 13.3% had received 1 dose, 8.8% were fully vaccinated

Big thanks to Kevin Pollard for crunching the numbers.

Our source information – link to NSW Health figures:

https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/find-the-facts-about-covid-19

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