The NSW Government has unveiled what it is calling the "roadmap to freedom" for those who are fully vaccinated, but it is unclear whether residents of Georges River and Bayside will have the same freedom as other LGAs under the plan.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the roadmap at today's NSW COVID-19 press conference, where she also revealed 1405 new cases of community transmission in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, and six deaths, none of which were in this area.
Ms Berejikian said that as foreshadowed in recent days, parts of NSW under restrictions would begin to reopen when double vaccination of residents aged 16 and over hit 70 per cent.
She said the government would not give an exact date of reopening, but it would occur the Monday following the vaccination target being reached.
However, she refused to say if residents of those local government areas of concern, including Bayside and Georges River, would be granted the same level of freedom as those in other LGAs, such as Sutherland Shire.
"If at the time we open, there are high case numbers in a concentrated area, it may well be the vaccinated people will be able to undertake everything on the list but within their own local community rather than have the freedom to travel everywhere," she said.
There are also no plans to remove the current curfew restrictions in areas of concern at this time.
She said that even after reopening, any areas or suburbs where there were larger concentrations of COVID cases could be subject to stricter rules to reduce movement and to ensure there wasn't "too much pressure on our hospital system".
She also warned daily COVID cases were yet to peak, and hospitalis would be under the greatest stress in October.
She said the government would listen to the advice of the Doherty report, which recommends reducing movements in the community if there was an outbreak.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the roadmap was "all contingent on us getting case numbers down and getting control".
"We would expect that we are seeing case numbers decline at a certain point ... but that requires everyone to follow the stay-at-home rules and get vaccinated, and the more vaccine we have in arms the quicker we will see that decline," she said.
She thanked the areas of concern for coming forward for vaccination.
