Page 1587 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 July 2020
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placed on hold for two weeks, with the next checkpoint scheduled for today, Thursday, 23 July. The main exception to this was community contact sports competition, which was reviewed last week and allowed to recommence from noon on Friday, 17 July. In addition, competition and squad swimming have been able to recommence and the limit on swimmers per lane has been removed.
Delaying stage 3 easing of restrictions has, no doubt, been disappointing and frustrating for many local businesses and organisations. However, as much as the government wants to support the recovery of our economy, if the health advice says we should not move, then we will not.
In relation to today’s checkpoint, the Chief Health Officer has advised that she will continue to assess the situation locally and in New South Wales before consideration is given to the further easing of restrictions. The next two COVID-safe checkpoints have been set for Thursday, 30 July and Thursday, 6 August. Should the situation be positive at both of those checkpoints, we will look to move to stage 3 of Canberra’s recovery plan on Friday, 7 August.
As we continue moving through Canberra’s recovery plan, we must continue to balance the risk of easing restrictions with the risk of undetected virus transmission and ensure that we have the capacity to respond quickly to new cases. COVID safety plans, other return to business plans, and further control measures such as visitor logs for patrons, continue to be critical to easing measures with the confidence that we can rapidly respond in the event of a case or cluster of new cases.
As I have said before, as restrictions are eased, there is an added responsibility on businesses to continue to do the right thing and ensure that they are following their COVID safety plans; and we, as individuals, also need to be responsible: to stay home if we are feeling unwell, maintain physical distancing, practise good hand hygiene and cough etiquette, and get tested if we have symptoms.
I would like to reassure all Canberrans that the ACT government continues to take every action upon the advice of our public health experts to plan, prepare and protect our community to ensure that the economy can continue to recover. However, we cannot do it without the community. I particularly want to thank those people who are, or have been, in self-quarantine and are working with ACT Health to do the right thing and protect the community. This is not easy, but it is an absolutely vital part of our response to contain any potential chains of transmission.
Madam Speaker, Australia and the world are still learning about this virus: how to contain it and how to live with the reality of it. The situation continues to evolve. Once again, I want to thank our public health teams in the public service, research institutions and universities who are constantly monitoring the evidence and providing their expert advice to governments.
I will finish by tabling a copy of the Acting Chief Health Officer’s advice on the public health emergency declaration, for the information of the Assembly. I present the following papers:
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