At-risk Canberra residents concerned about apparent rise in COVID-19 case numbers

ABC NEWS (Australia)

For most people the COVID-19 pandemic is out of mind, but for some Canberrans who are sick or suffering a chronic condition rising case numbers are a cause for anxiety. While disability advocates want some level of community requirements in response - like mask wearing mask wearing at GPs or dentist's clinics, the ACT Government says there's no plans for restrictions beyond those in place in some healthcare settings.

Transcript

00:00 Pam Tomilson packs a mask when heading out, wary of her autoimmune condition.

00:08 Making sure I'm staying on top of my vaccinations and making sure that I'm putting on a mask

00:13 in those sort of busier areas or staying away from people that are unwell.

00:17 It doesn't dominate her life, but COVID-19 is always a concern.

00:21 I still do check those COVID numbers.

00:23 I have a lot of faith in the people that are much smarter than I am to make sure that the

00:28 vaccinations are still going to protect us to some degree.

00:32 And that's part of just making sure I'm on top of that.

00:35 In the week to last Friday, 482 cases were reported to ACT health authorities, up from

00:42 168 in a week just a month ago.

00:45 One person died from COVID-19 and 15 were in hospital, including one in intensive care.

00:51 Since March 2020, there have been nearly 248,000 reported cases and 282 people in the ACT have

00:59 died from the disease.

01:01 The government is monitoring the need for mask wearing and testing in hospitals.

01:06 If you're going into an environment where you think you might be coming into contact

01:09 particularly with people who are immune compromised, so if you're going to visit a hospital, for

01:14 example, please do a rapid antigen test and just check that you haven't got COVID unknowingly.

01:19 As to whether broad community level restrictions are being considered.

01:23 Well, I might hand over to Andrew for that one.

01:28 No.

01:29 At the moment it's being cast as either it's lockdowns or it's nothing.

01:33 But the reality is that there's a lot you could do.

01:35 You could be having a public education campaign to make people aware of the real risks of this.

01:40 Advocates argue the desire to take personal precautions can have serious impacts.

01:45 I'm hearing about people with disabilities that are contemplating taking out their own

01:50 teeth that haven't seen a dentist in four years.

01:53 I haven't seen a dentist in five years and that's because I judge the risk to be too great.

01:58 He argues mask wearing requirements in health settings and making more services available

02:02 online could improve the quality of life for many.

02:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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