Many Indigenous Territorians are finding it increasingly difficult to isolate and keep up with the frequent changes to COVID-19 health advice, say leaders of Aboriginal peak bodies.
John Paterson, chief executive of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT (AMSANT), said the "consistent changing of the different measures [and] different restrictions" was "really confusing".
"That model won't work here in the Northern Territory in our remote communities," he said.
"When we've got large populations residing in dwellings with 20+ people, you can't isolate and you can't do all of those other public health measures."
To overcome this barrier, he suggested the Commonwealth or NT governments set up Defence Force-style isolation facilities in overcrowded communities.
"If there's overcrowding in communities … we need to get a team out there to assess whether it is viable to erect one of these huge defence [tents] … these temporary isolation facilities," he said.
Mr Paterson said he also wanted more clinicians on the ground assessing and treating coronavirus patients in remote areas.
"We need help, and if we don't get help we're going to have a dire situation — probably have deaths on our hands — and we don't want to see that happening," he said.
Fears heavy rainfall could thwart food supply in Utopia
The low-vaccinated community of Utopia in Central Australia entered a seven-day lockdown on Saturday after recording 22 coronavirus cases.
A further two cases were recorded on Sunday.
Michael Gravener, CEO of the local Urapuntja Aboriginal Corporation, said he was worried potential flooding of key roads would block access to food and medicine during the lockdown.
"Our biggest concern is, in a few days if there's no back-up plan for things like if we can't access those homelands because of the weather, we've got the perfect storm here," he said.
"With more and more consistent rainfall, we could have serious issues getting in and out."
He said the NT government should have a "helicopter on stand-by for food drops if need be, and medicines for people".
"We've got the food, and the store's got the food, but the issue is with distributing it," he said.
Mr Gravener agreed "communication was a serious problem", saying he had no idea the homelands in Utopia were entering lockdown until it was announced in Saturday's press conference.
"A lot of people are really poor here, so to expect them to live in isolation in some of the housing conditions they live in, is a big ask," he said.
He said he supported Mr Paterson's suggestion of setting up mobile isolation facilities, "even if it's a big tent system where you've got a fan and lots of airflow".
Trouble accessing testing
Another hurdle facing some Territorians is easy access to COVID-19 testing.
On Sunday, 212 new coronavirus cases were recorded in the NT overnight.
But Scott McIntyre, CEO of Thamarrurr Development Corporation, said people sleeping rough had found it difficult to get tested for the virus.
"There's no way for them to get to East Arm [testing clinic]," he said.
"We have had people catching taxis to the testing clinic, spending over $100 in a taxi just to get there and get tested so they can get home.
"Some of those people in taxis are being turned away, and told there's too many people in the car. Some people have gone through to get RAT tests and been given PCRs."
Mr McIntyre said the corporation helped about 30 people from Wadeye in the West Daly region on Friday who were unable to get tested for coronavirus before they were due to travel.
"We found nine positive cases in that cohort," he said.
Mr McIntyre said the regular changes to COVID-19 health messaging had made it difficult for some Territorians to keep up, especially if English wasn't their first language.
"It's not accessible to them from a language perspective, a world view perspective and the whole system is set up in a way that is really difficult for them to navigate," he said.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the government was willing to help improve access to coronavirus testing.
"We're willing to work with … those remote communities that have organisations that represent them, to try and ensure that there is a supply," she said.
"But we need to make sure that we keep our RAT tests for the clinical guidelines that our health officials have advised us."
The NT government said NT Health will continue to post regular coronavirus updates on its social media channels, including information about who needs to isolate and get tested.
