Orange mayor Jason Hamling is urging the Orange community not to lose focus in the face of the latest wave of the COVID-19 crisis.
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Elected to the position at the December Local Government Elections, Cr Hamling says for the sake of our yet-to-be-vaccinated, elderly residents and our hospital system, it's integral the community rallies and uses the "preventative strategies" NSW Health recommends.
"We're in the middle of another tough time, but I'm sure the Orange community is up for the challenge," Cr Jason Hamling said.
His statement comes after 63 more COVID cases were announced in Orange with 13 people in hospital across the Western NSW Local Health District for the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday.
"There's no doubt everyone's tired of it all, but as we come back from holidays now's not the time for losing focus," Cr Hamling said.
"What's making it tough for the community to get their head around at present is that we're dealing with a series of moving targets. Even though it looks like some people are having mild symptoms, people are very worried because Delta is still circulating and some people are getting symptoms that are much worse.
"It's too easy to relax, and think 'we're all going to get it one day'. For the sake of our elderly residents, unvaccinated children and for the sake of our hospital system, we need to continue to work hard on the preventative strategies that have got us all this far."
I am concerned at the rising case numbers in Orange and the potential impact on our health system.
- Orange mayor Jason Hamling
Cr Hamling said it was reassuring that many local community members have already taken the time to get their booster shot.
"While it mightn't stop us catching it, that's going to lessen the symptoms," he said.
Cr Hamling said people also need to continue to follow the health advice about wearing masks when out and about, and being persistent with doing the QR code check-ins.
"As people come back to work after the holidays they should be having the conversation with their boss about working from home if they can. Every little bit helps," he said.
"Like many other members of the community, I am concerned at the rising case numbers in Orange and the potential impact on our health system if that leads to more hospital admissions than we can handle.
"In Orange we can be confident in the quality of our local health services, but because our frontline health staff are under the pump, I'd love to see people going out of their way to offer our health staff all the personal support they can. It might be something as simple as dropping round a casserole or offering to take the children for a trip to the lake.
"Our local health staff are at the sharp end of dealing with this crisis and an offer of help might be just what's needed."
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