Orange Mayor calls for fresh start on COVID

Orange Mayor Jason Hamling is calling on the Orange community to make a fresh start when it comes to dealing with the latest impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.

“We’re in the middle of another tough time, but I’m sure the Orange community is up for the challenge,” Cr Jason Hamling said. “There’s no doubt everyone’s tired of it all, but as we come back from holidays now’s not the time for losing focus.”


Orange Mayor Cr Jason Hamling

“What’s making it tough for the community to get their head around at present is that we’re dealing with a series of moving targets. Even though it looks like some people are having mild symptoms, people are very worried because Delta is still circulating and some people are getting symptoms that are much worse.

“It’s too easy to relax, and think ‘We’re all going to get it one day’. For the sake of our elderly residents, unvaccinated children and for the sake of our hospital system, we need to continue to work hard on the preventative strategies that have got us all this far.

“We can be reassured that so many local community members have taken the time to get their booster shot. While it mightn’t stop us catching it, that’s going to lessen the symptoms. If the advice says you can get a booster now, please get around to making an appointment.

“We all need to continue to follow the health advice about wearing masks when we’re out and about, and being persistent with doing the QR code check-ins. As people come back to work after the holidays they should be having the conversation with their boss about working from home if they can. Every little bit helps.

“Like many other members of the community, I am concerned at the rising case numbers in Orange and the potential impact on our health system if that leads to more hospital admissions than we can handle.

“In Orange we can be confident in the quality of our local health services, but because our frontline health staff are under the pump, I’d love to see people going out of their way to offer our health staff all the personal support they can. It might be something as simple as dropping round a casserole or offering to take the children for a trip to the lake.

“Our local health staff are at the sharp end of dealing with this crisis and an offer of help might be just what’s needed.”

/Public Release. View in full here.