THURS COVID UPDATE – 1288 NEW NSW CASES – 7 DEATHS – 160 IN ICU – 64 ON VENTILATORS

Hospital cases continue to climb with 160 people now in intensive care across NSW, and 64 of those are on ventilators. Chief Medical Officer Kerry Chant did not – for the first time today – reveal the total number of people in hospital, but yesterday it was 917. We’ll ask about the total number and get that figure soon.

In the Hawkesbury we’re still at 88 active cases this morning but that will possibly change later today when the local figures are released – as usual we’ll bring those to you when we get them.

There were 7 deaths, none of them reported in the Hawkesbury.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she anticipates 70% vaccination level by mid-October and says those fully vaccinated will have more freedoms.

But Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said this morning at her media conference the Doherty Institute modelling which is being used as the Federal government’s benchmark shows at 70% full vaccination that will still mean 80 deaths a day across Australia which is 2240 a month.

Asked about those figures, Ms Berejiklian said, “the sad reality is outside of a pandemic, we lose between 600 and 800 people every year to the flu.

“We have to put things into perspective. Nobody likes to talk about this because it is confronting.

“But we have to get back to living life as normal as possible, knowing that Covid is among us.

“And the one positive thing that that comment and those numbers failed to accept, when transition between 70% and double dose, as Dr Chant and Minister Hazzard and others have said on a number of occasions, in addition to me, is that you start normalising living with COVID when you have high rates of vaccination, when you have a lower rate of people going into hospital, the case numbers are less relevant but you are going to have death.

“You have deaths just from the flu. It is a tragedy.

“Death is horrible. But we also need to put things into perspective, because at the moment there are 8 million citizens who do not have a choice in how they spend their free time, who do not have a choice about what they can do when they leave their homes.

“That is no way to live,” she said.

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