On the Ngaanyatjarra Lands in central Australia, the Warakurna community is on edge as COVID cases begin to rise in other surrounding communities only an hour's drive away.
The community on the Great Central Road in the Gibson Desert, near the tri-state border between Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, is doing everything it can to stay COVID free.
Ngaanyatjarra linguist, interpreter and educator Elizabeth Ellis loves her home and is keen to keep people safe.
"I love living here because I was born here, we've got a lot of memories from the old people, that's my connection to this place," Dr Ellis said.
She's worried COVID-19 will reach the community because of the number of back roads between Western Australia and the Northern Territory that aren't patrolled by police.
"Currently, COVID-19 case numbers are rising in Docker River," she said.
"They don't want to get sick and end up in hospital."
Vast and isolated
Senior Sergeant Colin Johnson, one of three police officers in Warakurna, said although Docker River was across the border it was almost like a sister community, which made it difficult to stop people from travelling between the two.
"What we're doing is attempting to isolate the community from other communities which are positive to COVID," Senior Sergeant Johnson said.
"To achieve that, the local police are doing mobile patrols of the roads around Warakurna and have set up a static vehicle control point on the Great Central Road and Mulga Road."
Dr Ellis said the community was working with the police to monitor the back roads.
"People do let the police know and say, 'So and so is going to come through the back way'," she said.
"And community people have been telling families don't come. I'm really hopeful because the community has stepped up to look after each other."
Senior Sergeant Johnson said of the eight to 10 vehicles that crossed the border every day, usually one or two were community members while the remainder were service providers.
He said despite the diligence of the community and the officers' work, the scale of the Ngaanyatjarra Lands was proving to be a challenge.
"Due to the isolation and the vastness of the area that we're policing, there's backtracks around them, and they know them better than us," he said.
'We're good to go'
Warakurna Clinic manager and nurse Jeanette Stansborough is confident the community is prepared for when, not if, the virus arrives.
"It'll come across the border somehow; it's only a matter of time before it gets here," Ms Stansborough said.
"We have [a] COVID testing facility here, we have a T Tango machine, we can do a PCR test, and the results from that can be back in 45 minutes."
Ms Stansborough, who has been in Warakurna for the past two and a half years, works with three other remote nurses to offer health services to the community that fluctuates from 150 to 350 people depending on events like sorry camps or funerals.
She said there was a lot of chronic disease in the community.
"Kidney disease, heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) … it's rampant," Ms Stansborough said.
"They have significantly greater chronic disease issues out here than in mainstream Australia."
She is confident more than 90 per cent of the community are vaccinated for COVID-19.
High vaccination rates bring hope
Senior Sergeant Johnson said police had been working hard with the Ngaanytjarra Health Service to increase vaccination rates.
"We've provided food incentives, vouchers to the shop," he said.
After the incentive police noticed crime in the region decreased.
"It really reduced the amount of trouble in community. Observing how busy the shop was, the majority of people purchased good quality food," Senior Sergeant Johnson said.
"It was very much a win-win for everybody."
Ms Stansborough said people were getting vaccinated even before food vouchers were offered.
She said high vaccination rates gave her hope that any infections could be managed in the community.
"We're hoping that when it does hit, that they won't get severely unwell enough to fly them out," she said.
Although the nearest hospital is in Alice Springs, most cases will be flown to Kalgoorlie.
"If we have an emergency out here, we get serviced by the Kalgoorlie RFDS and it takes them around about two and a half hours to get here — if there's a flight available," Ms Stansborough said.
"All the community here are aware of what's going on in Docker River, they're being really diligent on mask wearing and handwashing."
With the spread of COVID in WA inevitable, Dr Ellis is encouraging her community to get vaccinated.
"Get your three needles and get vaccinated because you're not only saving your life, you're saving your family's life, and the community of Warakurna," she said.
