The region's health boss says people need to "respect and comply" with the new Public Health rules regarding vaccinations.
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Western NSW LHD chief executive Scott McLachlan said the restrictions for the last couple of months "haven't been a punishment" and that they have been "a protection for us."
"I know it's been tough for a lot of people, but the release from stay-at-home orders doesn't signal the end of the pandemic," he said.
"We know that we're going to be dealing with COVID in our community for months and potentially years into the future."
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has indicated that if there is a significant rise in cases, lockdowns could potentially be considered again for LGAs.
Mr McLachlan said there was very little risk of this impacting Orange, despite the recent COVID cluster.
"We're still evolving with the thinking around further restrictions that might need to be put in place with rapidly growing outbreaks in locations," he said.
"That's not clear yet, but we'll continue to look for the need for those circumstances.
"Clearly, what we're seeing in a couple of our communities are more cases in the last couple of days than we've seen in the last three, four, five weeks, so there is some reason to be concerned. We're certainly not at that stage of needing restrictions back in place."
These comments came on the same day that changes to hospital and Multipurpose Service (MPS) visitor requirements throughout Western NSW were announced.
Most patients now able to receive two visitors per day so long as those visitors are aged 12 years or over; have been fully vaccinated with two doses of a COVID vaccination approved by the Therapeutic Goods Association; have evidence of the vaccination status and are wearing a mask when they enter the facility, and the mask is worn for the entire visit. They must be the same two visitors on a given day, not two visitors at a time.
The Western LHD said exemptions may be considered in some circumstances for visitors who are not yet fully vaccinated. These circumstances may include patients in end of life care, maternity care, or children who require emergency care.
Screening of visitors will still be undertaken and people must not visit a health service if they have been to case locations in NSW, interstate affected areas or New Zealand in the last 14 days; have COVID-19 symptoms; are a close contact of a person with confirmed COVID-19 and are within their isolation period; live in a household with a person who is currently isolating or are waiting for a COVID-19 test result.
Aged care residents of MPS facilities are permitted to have two visitors per day provided those visitors are aged 12 and over and have received a second dose of a COVID vaccination at least 14 days prior to their visit.
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