COVID by the numbers – Monday – no new Hawkesbury cases – NSW cases continue to fall – tests down

Welcome to Monday evening and the latest in-depth Hawkesbury numbers and COVID local news – the numbers are up to 8pm on Sunday night.

This is the most up-to-date round-up of Hawkesbury COVID numbers you can get, compiled by numbers guru Kevin Pollard using NSW Health datasets.

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:

* Zero new COVID cases in the Hawkesbury reported in the last 24 hours.

* There are 20 active COVID cases in the Hawkesbury (was 21 yesterday)

* Of the 265 new NSW cases (was 301 yesterday) reported to 8pm, Sunday, October 17 – 10 are from Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, which includes the Hawkesbury.

* Today’s new cases were the lowest reported in the State since 262 local cases were reported on August 8.

* In the Nepean Blue Mountains LHD, there were 6 cases yesterday, 4, 20, 24, 20, 15, 23, 20, 41, 35, 20, 33, 28, 15, 42 on previous days.

There were 60,273 COVID tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous days: 69,107, 66,311, 85,000, 85,133, 88,988, 83,948, 86,155, 79,894, 103,388, 112,186 tests.

* That’s the lowest number of tests since July 15 when 58,299 tests were reported.

* 0.44%% of today’s tests in NSW came back positive. It’s the 7th day in a row in NSW where the positive rate was a low 0.40% to 0.48%. The highest was 1.21% positive on September 7 (1222 cases from 100,745 tests).

* There are currently 202 active cases (was 220 two days ago) in the Nepean Blue Mountains LHD

* There are 4490 active cases in NSW (was 5121 yesterday).

* There have been 65,828 locally acquired cases reported since 16 June 2021, when the first case in this outbreak was reported.

*Over 5 million of NSW’s 8.2 million residents are now fully vaccinated, 65 of those that were fully vaccinated have died of the virus.

* Let’s take a look at Queensland for a moment, many of us have friends or relatives there and want to know when that border with NSW will open.

At 80% in QLD, fully vaccinated Australians from all states will be able to enter Queensland by road or air without needing to quarantine. A negative COVID test will be needed within 72 hours of entering.

In QLD, by the end of today, October 18:

16 years and over: 57.4% fully vaccinated and 72.7% first dose.

At 90% fully vaccination rate (approx mid February) in Queensland will have no entry restrictions or quarantine for fully vaccinated arrivals from overseas.

* QLD State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed the QLD border will open to all fully vaccinated Australians when Queensland’s eligible population (aged 16 and over) hits 80% fully vaccinated. QLD believes this will be on December 18, but looking at current vaccination rates that’s a big if.

* QLD will be struggling to reach 80% of people aged 12 and over fully vaccinated by December 17.

* In QLD, by the end of today, October 18:

16 years and over: 57.4% fully vaccinated and 72.7% first dose.

12-15 year olds: 14.4% fully vaccinated and 39.4% first dose.

* Clinical trials and real world evidence have found that COVID vaccines are 70–95% effective in preventing people from getting sick with COVID, according to the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS). This means that people who are fully vaccinated are 70–95% less likely to get sick with COVID compared with those who are not vaccinated, if they are exposed to the virus, says NCIRS. However, a small proportion of fully vaccinated people may still get the disease. Those vaccinated are 15% less likely to pass it on – compared to unvaccinated people, and are 82% less likely to end up in ICU, compared to an unvaccinated person, says NCIRS.

* As NSW reopens schools for face-to-face learning, experts who have studied the experiences of other countries are warning that not all lessons have been learned, particularly on mask-wearing and ventilation. In the US, there was a large increase in cases and deaths in US counties that didn’t require teachers or children to wear masks.

* Some adults think that putting masks on 5 year-olds is difficult but, in many countries, 5 year-olds put their masks on without any problems. In the US, 145,000 children have lost their parents or caregivers due to COVID.

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

* 16 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) – was 16 yesterday

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

* 2 in the 2753 postcode (Richmond, Richmond Lowlands, Londonderry, Grose Vale, Grose Wold, Bowen Mountain, Hobartville, Yarramundi, Agnes Banks) – was 2 yesterday

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

COVID deaths and hospital numbers – 5 deaths in the last 24 hours – none in the Hawkesbury

NSW Health is today reporting the deaths of 5 people with COVID – 4 women and 1 man.

A woman in her 30s from the Cessnock area died at John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle. She was not vaccinated and had underlying health conditions.

A man in his 50s from Sydney’s Inner West died at Concord Hospital. He was not vaccinated and had underlying health conditions.

A woman in her 60s from Sydney’s Inner West died at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. She was not vaccinated.

A woman in her 70s from south western Sydney died at Concord Hospital. She had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and had underlying health conditions.

A woman in her 80s from the Wollongong area died at Wollongong Hospital. She had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and had underlying health conditions.

There have been 477 COVID-related deaths in NSW since this Delta outbreak started on June 16.

At least 41 of the 477 have died at home and of those, 23 didn’t know they had COVID at the time of death.

At least 69 of the 477 COVID-related deaths in NSW since 16 June 2021 were those that were fully vaccinated.

The 69 deaths among people fully vaccinated were 3 people in their 50s, 4 people in their 60s, 23 people in their 70s, 22 people in their 80s and 17 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.

There are 606 people with COVID (was 619 yesterday) in hospital, with 132 (137 yesterday) people in ICU, 71 (71 yesterday) of whom require ventilation.

103 of the 132 in ICU haven’t had a single dose of a vaccine.

Vaccinated numbers – in NSW, by the end of today, October 18

16 years and over: 81.5% fully vaccinated and 92.6% first dose.

12-15 year olds: 37.1% fully vaccinated and 75.8% first dose.

16-19 year olds: 63.2% fully vaccinated and 86.4% first dose.

All 8.2 million NSW residents (aged 0 and over): 62.8% fully vaccinated and 78.5% first dose.

All 25.9 million Australian residents (aged 0 and over): 56.0% fully vaccinated and 71.4% first dose.

NSW COVID vaccination status (of cases during Delta outbreak from June 16 until October 17)

Based on NSW Health Surveillance Reports to September 25 and cases since.

477 COVID deaths: Not vaccinated (324 people), had received 1 dose (84 people), fully vaccinated (69 people)

1112 in ICU: 84.0% not vaccinated, 11.3% had received 1 dose, 4.7% were fully vaccinated

8368 hospitalised: 80.1% not vaccinated, 11.2% had received 1 dose, 8.7% were fully vaccinated

65,828 cases: 77.7% not vaccinated, 13.5% 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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