One in ten people living in Broken Hill have COVID-19.
Broken Hill is the epicentre of a COVID-19 breakout in Far West.
Bourke has one person in 43 with Covid -19, Cobar Shire has one in 40 and Wentworth also has one in 40 according to the NSW Health COVID case rates map.
To get higher rates than Broken Hill you need to travel to places with greater housing density and population.
Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle region numbers are 50 percent greater than Broken Hill.
The rest of NSW except Dubbo is lower than Broken Hill.
The rate of Covid -19 is sadly increasing in Broken Hill with cases having slowed down slightly in March to 358 cases only to jump up again in April.
In the first week of April 584 people in Broken Hill tested positive for Covid -19.
Within the first week of April St Annes Home had to lock down and we lost another elderly person with Covid -19. (Note the person had Covid -19 but this may not have been the cause of death. Any person dying whilst infected are reported as dying with Covid not from).
It was reported late in March by health source that people with Covid -19 had been seen attending venues and shopping centres contravening health orders.
Whilst the Omicron strains are not as serious for the majority of people it is still considered able to induce long covid in adults with pre-existing conditions for up to eight weeks and viral loads have still been found in childrens’ gastrointestinal systems up to 3 months later according to the Harvard Gazette, February 2022.
As one health worker said, “just because the government says don’t wear a mask it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wear a mask.”
We now have the Mundi Mundi Bash coming to Broken Hill with ten thousand people about to inundate the town and the Far West Local Health District is preparing for an increase in COVID-19 testing by opening one or more extra testing sites.
It has been shown time and again that festivals increase the infectious rate.
Two separate research papers both found an increase rate of 4 per cent for COVID-19 after festival events.
The second paper found that those with vaccinations had an increased rate of infection of 1-1.5 per cent.
Basically we could expect up to another 20 cases after the Mundi Mundi Bash.
