Edition 40
April 8, 2021
NorthernRiversTimes
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ARE WE SAFE?
by Christine Tondorf
A TOP infectious disease expert says the transient nature of Byron Bay’s population delivers challenges when it comes to controlling coronavirus in the Northern Rivers, but it can be defeated – Byron never recorded a single case of community transmission until last week. Professor John Kaldor from the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales has spent his career studying disease control and has penned some 750 scientific research papers. He also regularly spends time in Northern New South Wales. “A lot of us who work in public health this time last year were predicting that if Covid was going to appear and transmit in Australia quickly, Byron would be one of the first places it did so,” Prof Kaldor said. “Byron is definitely a place of high comings and goings, close mixing of a lot of young people who maybe asymptomatic. It’s a place with a lot of potential for transmission.” He said public health has been very effective in keeping the virus out of the town over the past 12 months. Northern NSW Health has confirmed
Is the coronavirus still circulating in our community and do you feel safe? that the March 31 positive test of a man who contracted the virus at the Beach Hotel was Byron Bay’s first ever case of community transmission. Face masks in retail settings were also mandated for the first time from 5pm, Wednesday, March 31.
Prof Kaldor is aware that northern New South Wales has a population aged above the Australian average and indigenous people account for around 5 per cent of residents. “With Covid you have to take into account who is at risk of transmission and
Please see my contact details below:
Authorised by K Hogan MP, National Party of Australia - NSW, 63 Molesworth Street, Lismore NSW 2480
who is at risk of getting sick. Byron has a lot of chances of bringing the virus in and for it to transmit locally and the wider community has potential vulnerabilities.” Prof Kaldor urged everyone in the four shires of Byron, Lismore, Ballina
and the Tweed to follow the instructions of NSW Health. He also said it was not yet possible to forecast when large festivals, like Blues Fest, could return to the Northern Rivers. continued page 4 ☛