Musician
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Remember "Lovey", who last November shared the amazing story of how his home was saved from the "un-tickety-boo" bushfire.
"Lovey" is Greg Love. In his former life he was an entertainer and has performed around the world. Then he settled in Old Bar and he teaches maths at Wingham High.
Now he finds himself in social isolation but in true showman spirit, he has taken this time to pen a tune.
He called on another Manning musician, Afro Moses, who hails from Ghana in West Africa, to help him out. Then the song was recorded by Kevin Ballard at his Dollys Flat studio and Taree's Scott Calvin burnt the midnight oil to put the video together.
The result is "Me and My Cat", it's a lot of fun and it is receiving a lot of love on social media.
Council response
The Taree Airport terminal is among the latest to close in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cancellation of flights by Air Pelican on Thursday, March 26 resulted in a closure of the terminal, however the airport remains open for general aviation and car hire agencies.
Also closed are council operated showgrounds, council owned and managed free camping areas, parks, playgrounds, visitor information centres, libraries and customer service centres.
Other closures and suspensions of council services include:
- all council owned pools, including the YMCA operated facilities in Taree, Forster and Wingham
- the Manning Entertainment Centre
- the Manning Regional Art Gallery
- council owned halls and facilities are no longer available to hire
- the annual bulky waste collections have also been suspended
Essential services such as water provision, sewer services, road maintenance and rubbish collection will continue.
Public health order
An individual can now be fined $11,000 for leaving their home without a "reasonable excuse" after tough new restrictions started yesterday.
A public health order is now in place to enforce social distancing rules that the NSW Government says will deal with the public health risk of COVID-19 and its possible consequences.
Under the order, "a person must not, without reasonable excuse, leave the person's place of residence".
The NSW Government Gazette lists acceptable excuses as: obtaining food or other goods and services; travelling for work or education if the person cannot do it at home; exercise; and medical or caring reasons.
In addition, the order directs that people must not gather in groups of more than two people in public places. Exceptions include: gatherings of members of the same household, and gatherings essential for work or education.
Penalties for an individual who fails to comply are six months jail or a fine of up to $11,000 (or both), plus a further $5500 fine each day the offence continues.
Corporations that fail to comply with a direction are liable to a fine of $55,000 and $27,500 each day the offence continues.
COVID-19 clinic opens at Manning Hospital
Hunter New England Health opened a COVID-19 clinic at Manning Hospital on Monday, March 30.
The clinic will operate from 8am to 4pm, seven days a week. Anyone wishing to access the clinic should call (02) 6592 9850 in operating hours for phone screening prior to attending.
And in a further effort to stop the spread, some entrances to Manning Hospitals have been closed in an effort to reduce footfall and allow for screening of those attending or visiting the hospitals.
HNEH public health physician Dr Dave Durrheim said the health service will review the need for further screening clinics as the situation evolves.
Slowing the spread
We are slowing the spread of COVID-19 in our health district, but we cannot become complacent, the Hunter New England Health's leading population health expert told the Newcastle Herald.
As health district's tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 reached 200 on Monday, March 30, Dr David Durrheim said the latest numbers were "encouraging", as they showed people's efforts were beginning to slow the spread of the virus.
But he said we had to keep going. We must not become "complacent".
The region had an additional 11 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday, down from Sunday's 22 new cases and the 25 confirmed on Saturday.
"In this 24-hour period we have seen fewer cases than we have seen in the last couple of days added to our list," Dr Durrheim said.
"Across Hunter New England, we have seen that only 11 cases to date haven't got a specific origin - they haven't come off a cruise ship, or been a partner of someone who has come off a cruise ship, or they haven't returned from overseas.
"This is an exciting feature that says we are doing the right thing. We are slowing the spread of the virus. What we have got to do now though is not become complacent."
Of the 200 confirmed cases, 158 had been acquired overseas, 26 were the contact of a confirmed case, and 11 were acquired locally. In NSW, the number of confirmed cases has climbed to 2032, including 35 from the Mid Coast.
Let us know you are open for business
The COVID-19 pandemic is changing life as we know it, day by day, hour by hour.
The latest restrictions for local businesses come as a devastating blow for our local economy.
It's timely to remember, we are all in this together.
At the Manning River Times we want to do our bit to support our local community by spreading the word about how customers can continue to connect with local businesses.
If you run a local business, use the form below to let us know you are still operating, and how we can continue to spend money with you.
You will find the link on our web page and it's free, as is all our COVID-19 stories.