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Australian Nursing Federation WA secretary Mark Olson urges West Aussies to work from home

Charlotte EltonThe West Australian
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Australian Nursing Federation WA secretary Mark Olson.
Camera IconAustralian Nursing Federation WA secretary Mark Olson. Credit: Michael Wilson/The West Australian

All West Aussies who can work from home should do so, WA’s nursing union has warned.

Australian Nursing Federation WA secretary Mark Olson issued the plea after the State recorded 24 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday.

He also urged the Government to impose density caps on hospitality and to ban visitors from aged-care facilities and hospitals.

“The Government needs to stop waving the white flag in the face of Omicron,” Mr Olson said.

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“They need to take the suppression of Omicron seriously and they need to start putting in place some fairly sensible and not that severe restrictions.

“First of all, we need to be having as many people working from home as possible, it doesn’t cost anything.

“I think that most businesses would appreciate that direction coming from the Government because I can’t think of a business in WA that that isn’t worried about having to furlough significant numbers of their staff.”

Mr Olson insisted that there would always be compassionate exemptions to the proposed hospital and aged-care visitor ban.

He said that reduced attendance at Skyworks proved West Australians were prepared to make sacrifices to help stem the spread of the virus.

About 50,000 people attended the annual Australia Day event. At its peak, the show attracts a quarter of a million people.

The 24 new cases yesterday were from Perth, Peel, the South West and the Wheatbelt. There are 17 positive cases in the Greater Bunbury cluster.

Of those, 13 were workers at Albemarle’s Kemerton Lithium Hydroxide Processing Plant

Today’s case numbers have not yet been released.

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