As the Western NSW Local Health District (LHD) records one more COVID-related death, the first for many weeks, officials are calling on residents to focus on the numbers that count.

Mark Spittal, Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD) Chief Executive, is urging the region’s residents to consider and play their role to help minimise the impact of COVID-19 on health services.

“The number of people that we know have COVID-19 should not be the measure people use to assess the risk they, and their community, face,” Mr Spittal said.

“Far more compelling numbers that maybe get less attention, are the number of people across the District who are getting booster shots, the children being vaccinated and the number of people who are in hospital who have COVID-19.

Mark Spittal, CEO, Western NSW LHD

“In recent weeks, we have seen upward of 40 people in hospital with COVID-19 on any given day but that number has not increased at anywhere near the same rate as known case numbers in Western NSW. That shows vaccination is working," he said.

Today's figures for the Western LHD show there are 34 people in hospital with just one person in intensive care.

Tragically, the reported death was a 78 year old woman who "had underlying health concerns and was fully vaccinated."

Vaccinations are working

“Yes, there are people in hospital who are vaccinated but the sheer number of people with COVID-19 in the community means that is no surprise," Mr Spittal said.

“When you look at the most seriously unwell people across NSW, and adjust for those people who are in ICU for reasons other than COVID-19 alone, it becomes starkly clear that it is unvaccinated people who end up in ICU solely due to covid-19. Thankfully, we will never know how many more people might have fallen seriously ill if we didn’t have such strong community vaccination coverage.

“Compared to the number of cases across the District, upward of 40 people in hospital may not seem like a lot but altogether it is still enough to fill the inpatient beds in two or three of our Multipurpose Service, or almost a third of Bathurst Base Hospital. It’s more than the number of people in an average hospital ward, every day," he said.

Protecting health services - and health workers

“Regardless of whether they’ve come to hospital because of COVID-19 or for another reason but also have COVID-19, the amount of extra work that goes into caring for someone with COVID-19 is still there and it impacts our other services," said Mr Spittal.

“Those patients need to be kept as separate as possible from everyone else in hospital. Our nurses and other hospital workers have to go through a totally separate routine to protect themselves, there’s extra cleaning and more PPE required such as masks and gowns."

Mr Spittal also pointed to the current delays to elective surgery, which creates further impacts on the health of the region's residents.

“Some people have waited for surgery for almost two years in our District due to the pandemic and we desperately want to get them the care they need as soon as we safely can," he said.

“Of course, it’s not just about beds either. In some of our smaller communities if we have just one or two healthcare staff off work because they have COVID-19 or need to isolate, it places services under a lot of pressure.

“We still need every bed and every person in our team available to do the work we normally do and provide care to all patients – people who need dialysis or an operation, mothers giving birth, people who need cancer care or who have an emergency."

Case numbers not the whole story

Today's figures show 342 new cases identified by PCR testing in the Western NSW LHD up to 8pm on Friday 21 January. This number is down on the 386 reported yesterday.

New cases were recorded in Lachlan shire (11 - with 9 in Condobolin), Walgett (7), Gilgandra (6), Narromine (5), Bogan (3), Warren (2), Warrumbungle (2), Bourke (1) and Coonamble (1).

“The total number of people with COVID-19 is going to get bigger before it starts reducing, we know that. The virus is everywhere, and outside the known cases we report it’s incredibly likely that there are many more undiagnosed cases of COVID-19 across the District. It is very likely that case numbers will rise when schools return," Mr Spittal said.

“But exactly where and when those numbers rise and fall should not be what motivates people to be COVID-safe and to get vaccinated.

”The ability of your local health service to keep caring for people, whether they have COVID-19 or not, is what our communities care about. We all need to be behaving in a COVID-safe way all the time now and, of course, getting vaccinated."

"Vaccination is our best protection against serious illness. We are seeing the proof of that every day now," he said.

For more information on COVID-19 vaccination and to book an appointment, visit the WNSWLHD website or the Federal Government’s COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Finder.