Locals in a regional New South Wales town are furious after it was claimed a Census worker from the Greater Sydney lockdown zone journeyed to the area to deliver materials and chat to residents about how to fill in the forms.
There are now fears she could have brought Covid-19 into the lockdown free town of Yetholme, 30km east of Bathurst in the state’s central west.
“Everyone in the community is upset about this,” Yetholme local Robert Atcheson told news.com.au.
“Look what happened in Tamworth and Byron. It takes just one person to spread it.”
Orange, also in the central west region, has already been in and out of lockdown while Dubbo entered one on Wednesday as infections continue to drip out of Greater Sydney.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics, which organised the Census, told news.com.au it would “thoroughly investigate the matter” but said it wouldn’t comment on the actions of individual staff members.
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Census worker from Covid hotspot
It’s claimed that last Saturday an ABS staff member drove around Yetholme delivering Census forms and at times got out of her car to greet and talk to residents about how to fill in the documents.
Given many people in the rural area live on large properties where the car could be seen approaching from far off, several of them went to meet the driver.
That was exactly what Mr Atcheson did.
“My driveway is 250 metres long, it’s not short,” he said.
“I assumed she was from the Bathurst area [which isn’t in lockdown]. That’s why I didn’t wear a mask when I spoke to her.”
But a neighbour said the ABS staff member told her she had driven down from the Blue Mountains, around 40km east, which is fully within the Greater Sydney lockdown zone.
A number of cases of Covid-19 have occurred in the Blue Mountains.
“When she heard she was from the lockdown area she walked straight back into her house and closed the door,” said Mr Atcheson.
The ABS staffer did wear a mask at least, he said.
“The whole community is upset. Handing out Census forms doesn’t seem essential work. Why risk bringing it to the central west?”
A number of the cases that have escaped Sydney have been via people undertaking work activities who had no idea they had the virus.
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‘This shouldn’t be happening in a pandemic’
The ABS told news.com.au that “field staff drop off forms in some communities where internet and postal services are less reliable”.
However, Mr Atcheson said Yetholme received regular post so he was baffled as to why he and his neighbours weren’t sent a password to access the Census website like most other Australians.
“This shouldn’t be happening in a pandemic,” he said.
“They didn’t need to send anyone out. And even then she had the option to put the forms in mailboxes. So why did she decide to interact with people?”
He questioned why if a staff member did need to talk to residents about the Census someone wasn’t found closer to Yetholme rather than sending someone in from a potential Covid hot spot.
An ABS spokeswoman said it “does not comment on individual staff members”.
She added that for 85 per cent of households across the country, Census instructions arrived by post and people could complete the survey online or order a paper form without any contact with another person.
“In all locations where we need to work in the community we do so safely, following all public health orders and current local rules and restrictions,” she said.
“For example, in some areas it may be appropriate to drop Census materials in a letterbox, but staff won’t be able to knock on doors. Census staff have clear instructions about what activities are permissible in their local area and are expected to follow these instructions rigorously.”
But Mr Atcheson said it didn’t seem very appropriate for a staff member from Greater Sydney to be chatting to scores of locals in an area with far fewer Covid restrictions.
“During a pandemic sending someone around, particularly from a lockdown area, just isn’t a good idea.”
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