The Aboriginal community warns as experts fear the number of COVIDs will reach 1,000

The federal government has been accused of “betrayal” over its response to the outbreak in New South Wales, with hundreds of Aboriginal people fighting COVID-19.

Since mid-June, more than 750 Aboriginal people have been infected with COVID throughout New South Wales, mainly in the western and far western parts of the state.

Labor Senator Pat Dodson said indigenous communities are in jeopardy in western New South Wales and the Far West, fearing the population of other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders across the country. rice field.

“In my view, the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and even the Aboriginal minister, committed one of the greatest acts of tricks and betrayal to the Aboriginal people,” he said.

He said there was no proper vaccine deployment in communities like Dubbo, Wilcannia and Brewarina before the virus spread from Sydney.

Aboriginal Minister Ken Wyatt has accused “hesitation” of the gap in vaccination rates between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.

“I find it interesting when people say that hesitation isn’t a problem,” Wyatt said.

“I’ve heard media interviews — hesitation is a problem we have to overcome.

“We still have a lot to do, so we continue to focus on ensuring that people are vaccinated and safe.”

However, Senator Dodson said he had little or no ability to cope with future outbreaks in other regional and remote Aboriginal communities.

“There is no actual management plan for what happens if the community is targeted by the virus,” he said.

“These are probably one store, clinic, [they] I feel that I am not equipped to deal with isolation and the serious types of medical care needed. “

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said plans with indigenous communities, including the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, have “significantly reduced” the population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

While hundreds of indigenous people are fighting COVID in New South Wales, Aboriginal medical services are at the “knife edge” desperately trying to raise immunization rates.

Outbreaks of fear could spread, predicting 1,000 indigenous cases

Indigenous infectious disease experts told ABC that they were seriously concerned about the increasing number of cases in western New South Wales and the Far West.

Epidemiologist Peter Malouf of the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council in New South Wales said the number of indigenous COVID cases could reach 1,000 this week.

“The increase in the number of cases is expected to increase the number of Aboriginal hospitalizations.”

Indigenous Australians are at increased risk of complications from COVID-19 due to a variety of factors, including a high proportion of underlying health conditions and inequality in access to housing and medical care.

Dr. Malouf said the outbreak was “not contained” in his view.

“I’m shocked and frustrated that the medical services managed by our community members and the Aboriginal community aren’t around the planning and response table.”

The death of the Wiradjuri in Dubbo is described as a tragedy by community members in western New South Wales.

Wiradjuri David Towny is angry that he sees the New South Wales government responding satisfactorily during the outbreak in Sydney.

“All the small political bubbles that were happening in Sydney ignored us, and now we are paying for the consequences,” he said.

“We didn’t have to experience this.

“And now they know they were wrong, so we are throwing all these support stuff at us, they did the wrong thing.”

Aboriginal healthcare workers are “exhausted” and “burnout”

Aboriginal medical services elsewhere are closely monitoring the crisis in New South Wales.

“This is a tragic awakening call for us,” said Lorraine Anderson, medical director of WA’s Kimberly Aboriginal medical services.

“We are really worried that it will invade our remote Aboriginal community and we are very worried that people will get sick and die,” she said.

Vaccination rates for Aboriginal people living in some remote areas of Western Australia are very low, and healthcare professionals believe hesitation is a major factor.

But Anderson said attitudes have begun to change in recent weeks.

“People who were hesitant because they didn’t expect COVID to come to Kimberley are now starting to line up for vaccination,” she said.

On the South Coast of New South Wales, Aboriginal medical services are anxious for more resources and staff to help boost vaccination clinics.

At Illawarra Aboriginal Medical Service in Wollongong, Kane Ellis said his community was “at the edge of the knife” and was deeply worried that COVID would spread.

“We have some help, but not enough,” he said.

“Listen to us, because we know how to do this for the community, and I don’t think it’s really taken seriously.”

Dr. Malouf is concerned that New South Wales healthcare workers are “burned out, exhausted, and tired.”

“We need to think about how to provide relief operations … the subrogation trauma begins,” he said.

There are also concerns about indigenous Australians in prison.

Dozens of people are infected at Sydney’s Silverwater Correctional Facility and Parklea Correctional Center.

The Advocacy Group’s Change the Record addressed the government in May 2020, expressing concern about the potential negative impact of COVID on indigenous prisoners.

“We knew that the prison system in particular would be out of control if it did occur and would have a devastating effect on the Aboriginal people in the system,” said Cheryl Axleby, co-chair of Change the Record.

“What is really worrisome is the quality of medical care that the prison system provides to many of our mobs.

“Many people enter the system [have] Many health needs and disabilities. “

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Time: 5 minutes 7 secondsFiveNS

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