New South Wales Could See More Freedoms Unlocked Next Week

New South Wales has recorded 444 new Covid cases until 8 pm last night and another 4 deaths as the state enters the second day since lockdown ended. 

It comes as it's tipped the state will reach the 80% double dose vaccination by the weekend. If that happens, we could see new freedoms unlocked by Monday including masks being ditched in offices, pub capacity increasing, stand up drinking allowed at pubs and a maximum of 20 fully vaccinated visitors allowed in a home.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says he will meet with his cabinet tomorrow to discuss vaccination rates across the state and to see if further easing of travel restrictions for Sydneysiders is appropriate. 

"There are other challenges we need to look at in terms of travelling to the regions for an example because the regional vaccination rate in New South Wales is obviously not at the same level as Greater Sydney. We'll work through those issues tomorrow and if we think we can do that vaccination rate over the weekend hopefully we can bring some of those restrictions to be released a little bit earlier," he said.

Meanwhile, experts are calling for schools to be made a top priority as they open back up later this month. 

Child and adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg speaking on Australia Today said lockdowns are incredibly hard on kids' mental health. 

“There are only four things that you want children and adolescents to do. One is to hang out with their friends, two is to go to school, three is to emancipate from mum and dad and four is to take healthy risks. All of those things involve being at school, you have to have them open. Not to do that…would invite a tsunami of mental health problems,” he said.

Schools will return to full-time face to face learning on October 25 and have to adhere to new Covid compliance measures, including keeping windows open at all times, come rain, hail or shine, in order to meet global standards for fresh air, deemed Covid safe. The new measures have some worried over how distracting it will be for kids over the summer months when there will be a lot of noise, heat and pollen to deal with. 

For Australians looking for intelligent and unbiased news coverage, join renowned journalist Natarsha Belling on Your Morning Agenda for breaking national and international stories as well as the top business and finance stories  - every weekday from 6:30am on Listnr