Hawkesbury COVID roundup – schools back tomorrow – active cases dip slightly – Kevin takes a rest…

We haven’t provided a daily update over the past week, as recorded Hawkesbury cases continue to fall, though in part that could be more to do with people using RATs and less using drive-throughs.

Let’s take a look at the last week, as school pupils prepare to go back to school tomorrow and are asked to take 2 RATs a week for the first month in an effort to help keep cases down.

Our numbers guru Kevin Pollard, who has been compiling the daily COVID figures since June – it’s really excellent work – reckons cases will rise again with schools back.

Thanks to Kevin we have an excellent overview here of the Hawkesbury situation, and further afield too, giving our readers a very detailed picture, and this will almost certainly be the last one from him as he moves to spend more time with his family.

Without Kevin, we would have had next to no idea how COVID was moving in the Hawkesbury these last months. He has given much of his time every single day since June to delve into the backend of NSW Health and fill a very important vacuum with facts and figures. He’s shared the information with us, and also the Lower Blue Mountains Facebook page because he is a true community member. Not only that, he’s a really good bloke too. So, Kevin, thanks mate, on behalf of everyone in our community.

Hawkesbury numbers:

* 69 new Hawkesbury cases on Friday.

* 574 new Hawkesbury cases in the last 6 days

* 1402 active cases in the Hawkesbury on Friday

New Hawkesbury COVID PCR cases and postcodes they are in:

* 33 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)

* 29 in the 2753 postcode (Richmond, Richmond Lowlands, Londonderry, Grose Vale, Grose Wold, Bowen Mountain, Hobartville, Yarramundi, Agnes Banks)

* 3 in the 2754 postcode (North Richmond, Tennyson, The Slopes)

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

* 1 in the 2757 postcode (Kurmond)

* 0 in the 2775 postcode (Lower Macdonald, St Albans)

Total active COVID PCR cases in the Hawkesbury as of 8pm January 28 – and postcodes they are in:

* 721 in the 2756 postcode (Windsor, Sackville, Wilberforce, etc) – was 786 Thursday

* 427 in the 2753 postcode (Richmond, Londonderry, Grose Vale, etc) – was 433 Thursday

* 126 in the 2758 postcode (Bilpin, East Kurrajong, etc) – was 138 Thursday

* 121 in the 2754 postcode (North Richmond, Tennyson, The Slopes) – was 127 Thursday

* 18 in the 2757 postcode (Kurmond) – was 22 Thursday

* 4 in the 2775 postcode (Lower Macdonald, St Albans) – was 8 Thursday

Current NSW COVID cases in hospital, in ICU, and on a ventilator, plus vaxx status:

In hospital: 2693 (2737, 2722, 2794, 2943 on previous days) – 71.9% fully or triple vaccinated, 2.4% one dose, 25.7% not vaccinated.

ICU: 186 (189, 181, 175, 183 on previous days) – 55.1% fully or triple vaccinated, 1.3% one dose, 43.6% not vaccinated.

On ventilators: 73 (78, 72, 75, 72 on previous days) – 55.1% fully or triple vaccinated, 1.3% one dose, 43.6% not vaccinated.

NSW COVID deaths – 27 today – none in the Hawkesbury:

NSW Health is today (Monday) reporting the deaths of 27 people with COVID – 17 men and 10 women.

Of the 27 people who died; five were in their 60s, six were in their 70s, 10 were in their 80s and six were in their 90s. Older age is a significant risk factor for serious illness and death for COVID-19, particularly when combined with significant underlying health conditions.

Eight people who died had received three doses of a COVID-vaccine, 16 people had received two doses and three people were not vaccinated.

Of the four people who died who were aged under 65, three were men and one was a woman. Three people had received two doses of a COVID vaccine and one person was unvaccinated. All four people had significant underlying health conditions.

Six of the 27 people were from southern Sydney, six were from south western Sydney, two people from northern Sydney, two from Sydney’s Inner West, two from the Central Coast, two from Wollongong, two from Maitland, two from the Riverina region, one from the Northern Beaches, one person from the Northern Rivers region and one from the Tweed Heads region.

There have been at least 1264 COVID-19 related deaths in NSW since this Delta/Omicron outbreak started on June 16, 2021.

At least 68 of the 1264 have died at home. 30 of them didn’t know they had COVID at the time of death.

584 of the 1264 COVID-related deaths in NSW since 16 June 2021 were people double or triple vaccinated.

The 584 deaths among people fully vaccinated – 2 in their 20s, 1 in their 30s, 4 in their 40s, 20 in their 50s, 28 in their 60s, 144 in their 70s, 234 in their 80s, 148 in their 90s and 3 in their 100s. 61 of the 584 had received their booster shot (1 person in their 30s, 1 person in their 50s, 11 people in their 70s, 27 people in their 80s and 22 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, many were elderly and in aged care facilities, some had cancer, disabilities, heart or valvular disease, obesity, chronic lung disease, asthma, diabetes, kidney or liver disease, rheumatological and auto-immune diseases, significant mental health illness and chronic neurological disorders.

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