Deputy Premier John Barilaro says the NSW government will not make a "knee-jerk" reaction to ban Sydney workers from the Hunter after a worrying exposure at Costco's Boolaroo store.
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Hunter New England Health public health controller Dr David Durrheim said on Tuesday that the next 14 days would be "critical to understanding how much transmission has occurred" at the warehouse after a Sydney Costco employee worked at the site last week while infectious.
The exposure site has produced 700 close contacts and five more positive cases, at least two of whom are from Sydney.
Dr Durrheim has pleaded for an end to movement up and down the M1 motorway to protect the Hunter.
The region registered one new case on Tuesday, a nursing home resident at Jesmond, after reporting two cases on Monday.
Mr Barilaro said he knew of a "couple of new cases" in the HNEH district which would be included in Wednesday's numbers.
The Costco incident has not helped the Hunter's argument to emerge from lockdown this weekend, but Mr Barilaro said the government had to weigh up economic and health considerations when it decided how much travel to allow between Sydney and regional areas.
"We're not going to respond just because of one or two events," he said.
"I'm not going to make a knee-jerk decision on it.
"We're going to have another look at it and see if there's anything else we can do to strengthen protections.
"These sites are important, the economy is important, the jobs are important."
He said the government could examine whether to introduce mandatory vaccination for travelling workers.
"Maybe it's time we start pulling back, that testing alone is not enough and vaccination is the key.
"At the same time, I bet if we locked it down entirely, people would be saying the opposite as well.
"We can lock everyone down in their homes and leave it that way until we get to zero, but that's not the approach.
"We expect companies to do the right thing. We expect the workforce to do the right thing."
He said withdrawing firms with Sydney workers from construction sites was impractical.
"You can't just replace it with local workers. That's such a simplified approach. That's just not logistically possible.
"The best thing to do is just shut the site down, if that's what the community wants.
"The LHD [local health district] has advice. I take my advice from NSW Health, who these guys feed into."
He said chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant had not recommended changing restrictions for construction workers.
"The only thing we can do is make sure maybe that construction workers become vaccinated sooner rather later.
"Maybe there's a tightening of you must have your first vaccination. I'm happy to consider all of that."
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Under stay-at-home orders, Sydney people are allowed to travel to the Hunter for work if they have a permit and have been tested in the previous seven days.
Residents of the 12 local government areas of concern in Sydney's west and south-west can travel to the Hunter only for authorised work, which includes construction, road transport, a broad range of retail and other services.
Mr Barilaro has said this week that the Hunter is "unlikely" to emerge from lockdown this weekend.
"I think your success has come from a very conservative approach by Hunter New England," he said on Tuesday.
"We don't want to undo all that good work they've done."
NSW recorded 753 new cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday. NSW hospitals are caring for 608 COVID-19 patients, including 107 in intensive care.
The Hunter has reported 164 cases since the latest outbreak began and has 32 COVID-19 patients in hospital, none of whom are in intensive care.
HNEH has not announced new exposure sites in the Hunter since Monday.
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