12 suburbs within Penrith will be subject to tighter lockdown restrictions as of 5pm today.
Dozens of cases have been reported across the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District in recent days while numerous exposure sites have been listed.
It has lead to thousands of people being forced into isolation for 14 days, while testing lines in the local area have been huge.
The Premier has resisted the temptation to put the entire Penrith LGA under stricter rules given most of the new cases are in the eastern part of the region.
The suburbs are Caddens, Claremont Meadows, Colyton, Erskine Park, Kemps Creek, Kingswood, Mount Vernon, North St Marys, Orchard Hills, Oxley Park, St Clair and St Marys.
Under the new tightened rules, residents of these suburbs:
But this has sparked confusion, given most people living within the listed suburbs could travel to a non-listed suburb and still be within 5km of their home.
This is ridiculous. Penrith itself has not gone into stricter lockdown, these suburbs mostly border on Penrith, and the ones in stricter lockdown can go anywhere in the Penrith LGA. And there are already cases in Penrith, so how does this make sense?
— kittycatsrule (@kittycatsrule) August 8, 2021
The justification for the new rules has also created confusion. It was suggested suburbs were added to the list because they neighboured the Cumberland and Liverpool Local Government Areas, but that’s a stretch by any means.
So Penrith now split. But people from high risk suburbs can go to rest of LGA…. I dont get that…
— Prof Marc Tennant (@MarcTennant) August 8, 2021
Local residents in affected suburbs can still go to work if their workplace is in their suburb, or if they are an authorised worker, they can travel outside their area.
EXPLAINER: WHAT IS THE PENRITH LGA?
Troy Dodds is the Weekender’s Managing Editor and Breaking News Reporter. He has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working with some of Australia’s leading media organisations. In 2023, he was named Editor of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.
