Health News at Your Fingertips

Those who follow the blog religiously (and I know there are a few of you!) will remember earlier this week we posted about a catch to SA opening its border that had concerned some Greens MPs in NSW and VIC.

On Nov 23 Sa will open its borders to fully vaccinated people from all Australian states and territories but quarantine will apply to LGAs with community transmission and less than 80% of the population fully vaccinated.

Because of statistical anomalies, both City of Syd and City of Melb have shown low vaxx rates – but that looks like it is about to change for Melb at least:

“There’s been death threats and there’s been threats to rape my staff,” McGowan told reporters.

“It’s disgusting and disgraceful and they should stop because it’s not going to make the government change its policy.”

police are investigating.

Hello team Guardian, Cait Kelly here. First up, thanks to Stephanie Convery who smashed it this morning.

I want to start on a lighter note, and I think a lot of you will be pleased to hear this …

From Sunday, fully-vaccinated Singaporeans will be able to visit Australia.

Students, family members and tourists will all be able to come without quarantining.

83% of the city-state has had two doses of the vaccine. It’s the first travel bubble since a similar corridor ended with our mates across the ditch.

And with that, I’ll hand you over to the magnificent Cait Kelly, who will take you through what remains of the afternoon. Thanks for sticking with me!

OK, just as a slight aside, I don’t know about you, but I am very glad to see that our resident agony aunt Eleanor Gordon-Smith has tackled the big topic in the lead-up to the silly season: managing family events with that agonising aunt (or sibling or cousin) who refuses to get vaxxed.

Here’s some more detail on the situation with the South Australian deputy premier Vickie Chapman. If you missed it, a parliamentary committee has recommended that she be found guilty of wilfully misleading parliament in statements regarding her decision to block the development of a timber port on Kangaroo Island when she was planning minister.

From Max Opray at AAP:

Labor MP Andrea Michaels tabled the parliamentary committee’s final report into Chapman’s rejection in August of the $40m timber port, describing her denials of conflicts of interest as “Trumpesque at best”.

“Blatant denialism of objective evidence and plain truth does the attorney general no favour,” Michaels told the SA parliament on Thursday.

The parliamentary committee found Chapman, who is planning minister and attorney general, should be suspended from parliament for nine days and make a public apology.

Chapman and her family have long held property on Kangaroo Island, but she told the committee she had no personal interest in any business or industry.

The Labor opposition is set to push for a no-confidence motion in Chapman on Thursday afternoon, which, if successful, would be the first time in the state that a no-confidence motion has been passed in the lower house against a minister.

The SA premier Steven Marshall had described the inquiry as a “kangaroo court” and previously said he fully supported his deputy.

To New South Wales now, our photographer Mike Bowers is out in Forbes, where floodwaters from the Lachlan River have been rising this week.

We’ll leave the NT press conference there. Crossing fingers for all the folks in remote communities that the outbreak has been contained.

The NT chief health officer says the woman who is hospital has had one dose of the vaccine, and that the high vaccination rate in Robinson River has probably protected her:

That high vaccination rate is a protection to that community. We may be seeing some of that benefit in it – we know that half of those were – of all the cases we had, about nine out of the 19 were fully vaccinated. We’re probably benefitting from that. Certainly they’re benefitting from that in terms of how ill they may get.

I should have mentioned yesterday that the lady that is in hospital has had one dose of vaccine. And that’s probably protecting her as well. So, I think if we hadn’t, if we hadn’t had that level of vaccination, we may be looking at some quite different.

We had an enormous uptick in our vaccination rates. I have to say I feel we have turned the corner.

The general tenor of this press conference is definitely cautious optimism.

All of the known Covid cases are from three households, authorities say, and the vast majority of people in the locked down areas are complying with stay-at-home orders.

Care packages are being rolled out to communities and in Katherine emergency accommodation has been set up for those who need to transit through or need a place to stay.

Robinson River meanwhile should soon be at 100% first dose:

The high vaccination rates of Robinson River has been crucial. We have prepared for this, we have surged in, the community has been magnificent. Only 15 people remain to receive a first dose in Robinson River. I understand they all want to be vaccinated today.

Gunner turns to the worryingly low vaccination rates in Katherine:

The rate was 71%, and that’s a concern … I understand the issue may be a mobility one and we’re tasking the local team to provide options today. I have asked for on-the-ground advice.

I have seen a photo of a queue to our clinic. It may be that people were prioritising testing and this will shift to vaccinations today. Vaccinations remain one of the five reasons to leave your home in a lockdown. If you have family or a mate who isn’t vaccinated, encourage them to get their first dose today. We need to see a lift in the vaccination rates in Katherine.

There’s another exposure site on the list for folks up there but Gunner is sounding cautiously optimistic.

The next few days remain crucial. We still have lots of testing and tracing work to do, but things are looking more positive.

There’s one new exposure site that I want to highlight. That’s the BP service station in Katherine on 13 November. If you’re there on the date from 2.40 to 4pm, please call the Covid hotline and identify yourself as a close contact. You will need to isolate and get tested and remain isolated even after a negative test. It’s a different date and time to the already announced casual contact site at the BP.

From the NT chief minister:

The total number of cases, cluster number two, remains at 19. Nine are fully vaccinated, two have one dose, five are unvaccinated, and three are not eligible to be vaccinated.

There were no new positive cases in the Northern Territory overnight. This is good news but it’s not a date to get ahead of ourselves. We won’t presume this means we have trapped the virus. This is delta, this is in large vulnerable households, we’re not out of the woods. The next day or two remain crucial. We’re still waiting for tests to return from Robinson River.