Here I am, sitting quietly in my office, hard to believe, I have been on the road almost constantly for the last year.

I now have a permanent staff member at Warburton, and possibly staff members for each of the other seven manned Care Centres, juggling staff for routine leave can be a problem, but not insurmountable.

Along comes Covid-19, who would believe it, makes the last 12 months of difficulty, look like a holiday.  I am frankly very scared.  The people on Ngaanyatjarra Lands are vulnerable.  The government and the Council are working hard to keep the virus out of the lands.

The roads in are closed, the police are manning the major roads,  already there have been vehicle turn arounds.

The community is working towards a cohesive plan, to educate the locals of the danger, to set up strategies of cleanliness and social isolation to assist in preventing any infection.  At this point, there does not seem to be any of the illness evident, one hopes this continues.

The community as identified possible isolation accommodation places if needed. the clinic has a designated area to assess people who display anything like a symptom that could be the virus.

Getting staff out for  due leave or back in after leave is problematic.  We will work with this as the most important thing is keeping the lands free of the virus.

We are encouraged not to travel between communities, unless absolutely necessary.  So today I am setting up my first Zoom meeting with my Care Project Officers.  A few important issues we need to cover.

Stay strong and stay safe, it is vital we all follow the recommendation of the medical professionals to avoid the spread of this dreadful Viral infection.