RetireAustralia COVID-19 update: Precautionary measures for regional NSW villages

Published: 21 December 2020

The New South Wales government has announced COVID-19 restrictions for Greater Sydney, the Central Coast and Wollongong from midnight Sunday 20 December until midnight on Wednesday 23 December. This is in addition to the lockdown placed on the Sydney Northern Beaches.

The NSW Police are enforcing these restrictions and penalties apply.

Additionally, the government is also strongly recommending people in NSW wear masks at all times when in indoors areas, including shopping centres, supermarkets and shops; public transport, healthcare facilities and aged care facilities.

The New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, says this is necessary to protect the people of NSW from the evolving Avalon (Northern Beaches) outbreak.

What does this mean for our Regional NSW villages?

We acknowledge that these restrictions are incredibly hard. Especially given the time of year and that many of you will have plans to spend time with family and friends. However, given the elevated risk, it is important that we all do the right thing and work together to keep our communities safe.

RetireAustralia is implementing the following precautionary measures:

Households will be limited to 5 visitors on New Year’s Eve and until further notice for Greater Sydney and Southern Zone Northern Beaches.
We’ve made the difficult decision to wind up community activities and access to the community centre a little early. So the last social and sporting activities will be on Monday 21^stDecember, and activities and will resume in the New Year.
If you need to access the community centre or community facilities after this date, please liaise with your Village Manager.
Staff and essential workers will wear masks when delivering services to residents and when physical distancing cannot be maintained.
Visitors will be requested to wear masks too.

In the short term, we urge you to take precautions:

Travelling to and receiving visitors from high risk COVID-19 areas:
- Visit the NSW Health website or check the village COVID-19 noticeboard for the latest updates on COVID-19 hotspots and high risk areas.
- If you have recently visited a high risk area (as defined by the NSW Government), please self-isolate and follow government advice.
- Visitors from the Northern Beaches must not enter the village please.
- We recommend that visitors from emerging high risk areas including Greater Sydney, Wollongong and the Central Coast do not visit the village.
- We recommend that you avoid travelling to high risk areas.
When you go out, practice social distancing and good hand hygiene and consider wearing a mask in indoor public areas.
Keep track of your visitors and the places you visit.
Please ensure your visitors do not access any community areas or shared village facilities.
If you have even the mildest COVID-19 symptoms please get tested and let your Village Manager know.

We are here to help

If you have any questions or concerns, please call your Village Manager directly.

In particular, if you are unclear of the restrictions or need help accessing groceries, medication, masks or healthcare appointments, please call.

Thank you so much for your cooperation and support. We understand that the timing of these restrictions will be hard for many residents as we head into the Christmas holidays.

We are monitoring this closely and will provide further updates as the situation evolves.