Local case numbers have cut in half across the Western NSW Local Health District, with 261 recorded across the district. 

Of those cases, 26 were located in shires across the Western Plains. 

Seven of those cases were located in the Bogan shire, five in Cobar, two in Coonamble, four in Gilgandra, one in the Lachlan Shire, four in Narromine, and five in the Warrumbungle Shires. 

The NSW Government has released their tracking a week after modelling for hospitalisation and ICU admission modelling. 

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said that the numbers are positive, with 2,5225 Covid-19 cases currently in hospital. 

“The tracking we’re releasing today is very reassuring given where we sit in the pandemic today,” Mr Perrottet said. 

The Premier also announced that, in line with the decision from the National Cabinet yesterday, an increasing number of industries will be subject to different isolation requirements due to workforce shortages. 

“Some of the changes we’ve made for those close contact exemptions include health, emergency services, safety law enforcement, justice and correctional services, energy resources, water, waste management, food, beverage and other critical goods, and… the media as well,” Mr Perrottet said. 

Under the changes, these critical workers will be able to leave self-isolation to attend work if they have no symptoms of COVID-19.

Workers will only be eligible to leave self-isolation if their employer determines that their absence from the workplace poses a high risk of disruption to the delivery of critical services or activities, and they are unable to work from home.

These workers must wear a mask and comply with risk management strategies put in place by their employer, including daily Rapid Antigen Tests.

With the new school term approaching, Mr Perrottet noted that the state government is working to strengthen schooling systems to ensure face-to-face learning is in place this year. 

“We are committed to getting schools open from day one of term one, in a way that is safe for students and teachers,” Mr Perrottet said. 

To do so, teachers are one of the critical industries that will operate under the changes, where self-isolation won’t be necessary for low-risk close contacts. 

Acting Secretary of the Independent Education Union’s NSW/ACT Branch Pam Smith said that the exemption is a failure of public policy. 

“Watering down work health and safety provisions in the third year of the pandemic because the government failed to plan is unacceptable,” Ms Smith said. 

The new rules giving exemptions for critical workers take effect immediately. The expanded list of industries that have been added to the exemption can be found here.