Yuendumu community ‘very angry’ after close contacts flown home ‘unexpectedly’ from Alice Springs
government is under fire after a group of people taken into quarantine 10 days ago from a remote Aboriginal community were sent home on Sunday “unexpectedly” and subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.to explain why the community members – who had been evacuated to the Alice Springs quarantine facility as close contacts – were flown home on 16 January and sent back to their homes without being tested on arrival, with local authorities saying they had not been informed of their return.
Ward said relations with the government were already fraught, with Yuendumu residents angry at what they see as being blamed for a relatively low vaccination rate. Last week, the NT deputy health minister, Nicole Manison, described the township’s vaccination rate of 65% first vaccination and 41% double vaccination for people over 16 as “disappointing”.
“Given the circumstances and the relationship today between Yuendumu community being in some way blamed for not taking up vaccination adequately to combat Covid hitting here, the community are now saying, ‘We’ve been blamed for it, but now you have brought back people who are positive and infected us’.
According to the minutes of a meeting of the Yuendumu local emergency management Covid response group held on Tuesday, local police and health authorities were not told about the return flight.Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning