'Really promising': Graph shows lockdown could be working in Sydney's hotspots
A number of graphs could suggest Greater Sydney’s lockdown is working in the city's most affected government areas.
Nick Evershed, who does data for The Guardian, shared a number of graphs with data collected from NSW Health of case trends in Sydney’s LGAs and the charts are eye-opening.
It shows Canterbury-Bankstown, Fairfield, Strathfield, Camden, Sutherland Shire, Strathfield and Willoughby have all managed to flatten the curve in Covid-19 cases. Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown are two LGAs under the strictest lockdown rules throughout the most recent outbreak.
please don't yell at me but it's possible NSW is having success in turning things around at the LGA level in some areas? Clearly still major issues with spread to new areas, but just thought I'd share given this is not immediately obvious looking at the state-level trend pic.twitter.com/EHOylbrta6
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) August 10, 2021
Mr Evershed tweeted it could be evidence “NSW is having success in turning things around” in what would be music to the ears of the millions in week seven of lockdown. The state reported a further 344 locally-acquired cases on Wednesday.
One of the areas that appears to have flattened the curve is Canterbury-Bankstown which, according to NSW Health data, has the most coronavirus cases of any LGA with 1176. Fairfield, in second, has 800.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian mentioned both LGAs during her press conference on Wednesday.
“We are starting to see cases decline in Fairfield local government and Canterbury-Bankstown, which is a positive sign,” she said.
“In Canterbury-Bankstown the cases are still high but we are seeing that trend and we know that the intensified efforts are starting to bear fruit.”
In the week ending July 24, 49 per cent of the state’s cases were from these two LGAs alone.
On Twitter, the info offered people a ray of hope.
“Reality is they must be having some success at containment or they would be having 500 to 700 cases a day from last week already!” one woman tweeted.
One man tweeted the Fairfield numbers are “really promising”.
However, the data suggests that while two areas are beginning to see the rate of infection slow down, other parts of NSW are seeing the rate increase.
This is evident by the fact Tuesday saw NSW record 356 new cases of Covid-19 – the highest daily total since the start of the most recent outbreak.
Cases have emerged in Armidale, Bathurst, Newcastle and Tamworth.
Ms Berejiklian told reporters on Wednesday the key to stopping the spread is vaccinations.
The premier said at the current rate, 70 per cent of the state’s population will be vaccinated by the end of October and 80 per cent by the end of November.
“According to the Doherty report, that (80 per cent) is when life gets back to normal, that is when we have a different approach to Covid, when freedoms that we had will be in place and we can look forward to having a normal existence,” she said.
“The challenge for us is how we live in September and October, until we get to that 70 per cent.
“With six million jabs by the end of August, if achieved, there will be opportunities for us in parts of the communities where cases are low and vaccination rates are high for them to do more than they do today.”
More than 4.5 million vaccine doses have been distributed in NSW.
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