A Planner's Reflection: Two sides of the same city

Sydney is a beautiful city, but its inequities run deep. The pandemic only shines a light on the deepening socio-economic divide across the city.  

In the last few weeks as Sydney deals with an ongoing lockdown, we have seen an elite private school in the Eastern Suburbs receive dispensation to take students on a trip to Kangaroo Valley and accidental vaccinations at a private school in Sydney’s lower north shore. Meanwhile, teachers in Western Sydney prepare resource packs to be sent home to families that struggle with connectivity issues and sharing devices between family members. 

We’ve also seen different narratives around responses to the outbreak of Covid in south-west Sydney, compared to those in the Eastern Suburbs or the previous Northern Beaches cluster. As one article has put it, “Rich, white, wealthy and middle-class Sydneysiders are treated with care and compassion. Multicultural and working class Sydney is a problem to be policed.” 

Sydney’s ‘latte line’ 

This divide is nothing new. It’s known as the ‘latte line’, the ‘Goats cheese line’ or the ‘Red Rooster line’. This line represents a huge socioeconomic disparity across Sydney. It’s a concept that sees a divide between things like income, housing affordability, amount of tree canopy, distance to public open space, NAPLAN and HSC results and even life expectancy. According to the economic commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission, this line generally separates the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’. Depending on which side of the line you live on, life can look very different. 

Source: Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue

The pandemic only highlights this even more. Above the line, people are generally more likely to have access to white-collar jobs that can be undertaken from home, easy access to great open space like coastal walks and harbour parklands and be predominantly English speaking, which can make understanding health advice easier. 

Below the line, people are more likely to have blue-collar jobs which, under current restrictions, many people in South Western Sydney can’t leave their LGA for. There is less accessibility to high quality public open space. Large or multigenerational households in small apartments. Opportunities for adequate outdoor play and exercise are more limited and often just include the same small local playground. You also have single or struggling parents with no option but to rely on family members for babysitting. There are significant cultural and language barriers. Life in lockdown is complicated for the ‘have nots’ and may not be as straightforward as it might be for those above the latte line. 

Even just being able to watch Gladys at the 11am press conference, and be able to understand it, is a privilege (though, it can be confusing even for those who predominantly speak English!) 

The messaging around the current crackdown in South Western Sydney is also not the same as the messaging a few weeks ago when this all began in other parts of Sydney. This is likely to be for a number of reasons which I won’t go into, but this sadly leads to ‘othering’ and subtle (and not so subtle) opportunities for racism and classism. 

What can we do? 

From a planning perspective, there are many ways that this socio-economic divide could be addressed. Open space is a great place to start. An equitable distribution of quality, accessible and large public open space is key for planning across Greater Sydney, particularly in areas that are seeing high population growth and housing targets. Currently, open space is dealt with on a site-by-site basis, which is missing the mark. We need government intervention, consideration of open space at the zoning stage and need to ensure that future planning proposals on private and public land achieve positive long term social outcomes (Canterbury Racecourse is an example). 

What does this mean for St Pauls? 

When you look at the map above, Canterbury is right on the latte line. This presents us with some pretty unique opportunities as a church.

Our church vision, being a church for all people, comes to mind. This should include, amongst other things, the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. 

We have an opportunity in Canterbury to live out what it looks like for all people, regardless of social or economic status, to be part of one body. We can aim to personally get to know and welcome all people, regardless of where they are from. We can get around and support those who might be struggling to make ends meet. We can share life and pray together. And when we engage in conversation around Sydney’s lockdown, we can look on Western Sydney with compassion, not judgement. 

Jesus is deeply concerned that all people hear the good news of his kingdom. Our unique geographical location is an opportunity for our church to be a true reflection of God’s diverse kingdom. 

Samantha Kruize

Sam is a member of our 5pm congregation. She has a degree in City Planning and has worked as a Planner in the public sector for the last 5 years.

Why we need vaccines

Currently about half of the population of Australia is directly impacted by the delta variant of COVID. This pandemic is one of, if not the most, significant health events of our times and is affecting all countries. In Sydney we are seeing huge challenges in getting on top of the current transmission, with spread happening mainly in families and essential workplaces.

The question on everyone’s lips is ‘How long will this go on for?’ and we are not just talking about this current lockdown, but how long before we no longer live on the brink of yet another lockdown? What is clear, and was predicted by epidemiologists at the start of the pandemic, is that until you get some level of herd immunity, either through vaccination or most of your population getting the virus, every country will just see sequential waves of disease. Even countries with high rates of previous infection and reasonably high vaccination rates, are seeing multiple waves. So, why bother with vaccination? Can’t you still catch COVID even when you’ve been vaccinated? Is one vaccine better than another? Why does the advice change all the time, and who can I trust?

This blog intends to try and answer some of those questions, and provide some information that is accurate at the time of this blog being written. The information may change in the future and I”ll explain a little bit more why below.

Before I go any further though, one of the biggest problems is that if you listen to your friend down at the pub, or someone on facebook, or even the ‘experts’ in the media, you’ll hear many different statements and opinions. Some of these are good and accurate, some are partially accurate, some are just personal opinion without fully understanding it, and some are just wildly wrong and even harmful. So how do you know who to believe? As a health professional with expertise in epidemiology, sometimes I find it hard to navigate all the information out there and am frustrated by people saying different things. What I try to do is go back to the facts, listen to a variety of opinions and understand where things are clear, and where things are not clear.

And that’s what I’m trying to do in this blog. If anything is unclear or you have more questions then get in touch!

Why do we need vaccines?

Without vaccines, our only option is to just live with COVID and accept it, a bit like we do with other diseaseas like the common cold, or the flu and that was how they managed the last major pandemic in the early 1900’s, the Spanish flu, which eventually faded out, but not before causing massive waves of death. So why don’t we just ‘let COVID rip’? Well, for one, we have seen clearly from overseas that when millions of people are infected, hundreds of thousands of people are admitted to hospital and thousands die. This overwhelms the hospital system meaning that not only could you die of COVID, but also they have no room when you have a heart attack, or stroke, or develop cancer. Therefore death rates of those common illnesses go up as well.

But also, we are seeing that the COVID virus keeps mutating and many of these mutations are worse than the last (for example this delta strain). As long as you have widespread transmission of COVID, you will keep seeing mutations. And that means that even if you’ve had COVID before you can catch it again, and maybe worse than before.

So the evidence now is absolutely clear, this is worse than the flu. The flu has not overwhelmed hospitals and health systems like COVID has overseas. The flu does not cause long term impacts like COVID. A study of just under 3000 cases from the first waves in Australia last year followed those people until they had fully recovered from their COVID symptoms. Although most people recovered within a month, at three months, 5% (about 150 people) were still having significant symptoms including fatigue, neurological problems, and chest pain. If we let the whole of Australia get COVID then over 1.25 million people, including younger people, will have long term chronic illness, which we don’t know how to treat yet.

Therefore, our best way of dealing with COVID is either with treatments for those that get it (very few successfully identified so far, but research is ongoing) or vaccination.

What vaccines do we have and do they work?

We currently have access to the Astra-Zeneca and Pfizer vaccines, and will be getting the Moderna vaccine later this year as well. All these vaccines have been widely used around the world and have been credited with preventing thousands of deaths and hospitalisations in many countries. The effectiveness of Pfizer and AZ (which are available at the moment in Australia) are excellent against the delta variant, with over 90% effectiveness against hospitalisations and death. These are outstanding efficacy rates for vaccines. Several other vaccines that we use commonly may only have 50 to 60% effectiveness (which is still enough to manage some diseases). Unfortunately, COVID is very transmissible, and requires highly effective vaccines, and so we are incredibly fortunate that we have so many vaccines that are so effective. 

However, even if you’re vaccinated, you can still catch and spread COVID to others. This is not a failure of the vaccine, its designed to stop you getting very sick and dying. Studies from the UK have shown that Pfizer and AZ vaccines do reduce your risk of passing it on by about 50%, but until we have large portions of the population vaccinated, the Health department still wants vaccinated people to stay home and socially distance along with people who aren’t vaccinated. 

What vaccine should I get and why does the advice keep changing?

As I write this blog, people over 40 yrs can book in to get Pfizer, however supplies are limited until September and its almost impossible to find an appointment for Pfizer at the moment unless you are a prioritised worker. Until yesterday, AZ was recommended for over 60s due to the widely reported clotting risk, however today (24th July) ATAGI (the government’s advisory committee on vaccines) has now recommended anyone over 18 in Sydney consider getting AZ due to the rapidly spreading COVID outbreak.

So why is the advice changing and what is this clotting risk?

The only problem with Pfizer at the moment is that we just don’t have enough of it to vaccinate everyone, otherwise everyone could go out and get it as soon as they want. More is coming in September/October and there should be plenty to go around then for anyone who wants a shot. That’s the only reason why they are limiting it to over 40s. Its highly safe and effective for anyone, even for teenagers. There are some reports coming out of the US about a small risk of inflammation of the heart (myocarditis) in younger people, but they tend to recover and its very mild. But its good to discuss risks and benefits openly. Every drug has side effects (even Panadol and Aspirin) and so every discussion is a about risks vs benefits.

The reason why the advice changed for the AZ vaccine is that it became apparent that one of that vaccine’s side effects is causing unusual blood clots. These are not the same type of blood clots that you can get when you fly, or take the oral contraceptive pill, or have surgery. They are much rarer and occur in different places in the body. The risk is about 1 clot for every 50,000 doses of AZ. So if you filled the Sydney Cricket Ground with people and vaccinated them all, 1 or 2 might get a clot. For those who get a clot, the risk of dying is about 3% (or 3 in a hundred). So, overall, your risk of dying from the AZ vaccine is just under 1 in a million. Super rare. In comparison the risk of dying during an operation, or in a car accident, is more like 1 in 400,000.

So, why did the advice change? The ATAGI group of experts were balancing the risk of COVID, with the risk of clots. When we had no COVID in Australia, the risk of clots was higher than the risk of COVID. But now that COVID is spreading in Sydney again, the risk of catching, getting seriously ill or dying of COVID, is now greater than the risks associated with the vaccine. At the moment in Sydney, about 18% of people diagnosed with COVID are being admitted to hospital including many people under the age of 50. Thankfully we aren’t seeing too many deaths at the moment, but don’t underestimate how sick those people in hospital are, or the high risk of chronic disease even after discharge.

This is why the advice changes, ATAGI simply balances the risks and benefits at any given time. At the moment, they are recommending that everyone over the age of 18 strongly consider getting vaccinated.

Do I have to get vaccinated?

No, vaccination is never mandatory. This includes all vaccinations given in Australia, even the ones we all get as children. However, what may happen is that if you want to work in certain occupations where the risk of COVID is very high (such as aged care, or health) you may not be allowed to work in those areas without vaccination – this is similar to the ‘no jab, no play’ rules for childhood vaccinations. We may find eventually as well that there are things you are only allowed to do if you are vaccinated (such as flying overseas, or even interstate). This is fully legal.

So, why should I get vaccinated?

Firstly, to protect yourself against COVID. This is a nasty disease and is going to be around for years to come, quite possibly with many different variants that may be even nastier than delta. You may be lucky and get it mildly, but do you want to take that risk?

Secondly, to protect your loved ones. You may get COVID mildly, but may pass it on to your family who then get sick and may die. No-one wants to do that.

Thirdly, to protect those that can’t get vaccinated. A small proportion of people cannot get these vaccines, due to various reasons. If enough people get vaccinated then we reach herd immunity and we can protect those amongst us who are vulnerable and can’t get a vaccine even if they want to.

Personal reflection

To finish with, a few personal reflections. For me, as soon as I was eligible, I booked in to get vaccinated (I got Pfizer). So did my husband (he’s had one dose of AZ, waiting for his second one). For us, we trust the science (I have looked into it in some detail) and are keen to do our bit to protect ourselves, our parents, and others, as well as play a part in getting our society back to some semblance of normal. As a Christian, I also see getting vaccinated as a way for me to love others, to play my part in getting ahead of this disease and protect others around me who can’t (or choose not to) get vaccinated. This is not to judge anyone who doesn’t get vaccinated, simply noting that vaccination for me fits into the biblical imperative to love my neighbour as myself. I also don’t see vaccination as a lack of faith that God will protect me and my loved ones from disease. The Bible doesn’t promise that Christians will not suffer or get sick, and in fact when the Israelites were wandering around the desert for 40 years, they had clear guidance for social distancing of people who had infectious diseases (check out Leviticus 13!). God provides us with brains, scientists and medicine to use with wisdom. 

I fully understand that some of you might have genuine concerns and questions about this. I am always happy to have a chat through these issues without judgement or prejudice, just get in touch with me directly, through Steve, or the church webpage. These are important issues to deal with and I’m really happy to help work through the facts with you while you make a decision.

Dr. Ruth Griffiths

Ruth has been a member of our 9.30am congregation for the last three years, married to Nev, and Mum to Ally and Emmy. She is a medical doctor and epidemiologist, and has worked in medical research for the last 16 years.

Being an adaptable church

There’s a fascinating book that has been doing the rounds recently called The Spider and the Starfish. It’s all about how decentralised organisations can adapt much quicker to changing situations than highly centralised organisations.

The author likens centralised organisations to spiders. Spiders are controlled by their head (like most of us!). If the head is cut off then very quickly the spider dies. Starfish are different. They have no head. And its major organs are replicated throughout each arm. Cut it in half and instead of killing the starfish you now have two starfish. 

Starfish organisations don’t have headquarters.

For those from St Paul’s you might recall in our recent sermon series in Acts we reflected on the adaptability of the early church. This is one of the hall marks of the church. It is a dynamic, decentralised movement that can easily adapt to ever changing situations because our Head is not human authority but the Lord Jesus, whose headship is permanently affixed to every part of his body, the church  

We’ve seen this in Acts as persecution was applied to where the gospel movement first broke out, Jerusalem. The very centralised opposition - the pharisees and saducees - tried to lock down Jerusalem. This resulted in a scattering of the early christians and a decentralisation of the church. Now it was no longer just the apostles who were preaching the gospel, it was everyone. And new gospel outbreaks popped up in unlikely places like Samaria (see Acts 8). 

There are no two ways about it, COVID 19 is a crisis, and one that is rapidly changing the way society functions for the time being. This includes the church. 

Friends I want to remind you that this won’t defeat our church. We know that. We sing about that every week, and we read endless promises in the scriptures that God will never leave us nor forsake us (Matthew 28.20); That our help will come from God, the Maker of heaven and earth. The One who doesn’t slumber nor sleep (Psalm 121.1-3); That Jesus is the bread of life and those who come to him will not go hungry (John 6.35)

And I want to encourage you to be like a starfish. To already begin thinking, how can we adapt to this crisis? 

This is our spiritual strength - something up our sleeve that will help us get through this. Here are some thoughts to get us started:

Creating community online

A small team of helpers is preparing to move our Sunday services online. They will be streamed at the usual times of 9.30AM and 5PM. This Sunday will be a dress rehearsal and from the following Sunday we expect to have our services running completely online. 

It is not the same, by any means. There’s a real grief in not being able to greet one another with a hug and sit and pray to our Father in heaven together as a beautifully diverse congregation of people. 

But there’s an opportunity here too. We can also adapt to share our church community with the broader community. Doing short, for example, devotions online that speak into the felt needs of millions of people right now.

God, in his common grace, has connected people together online in a way that empowers our capacity of sharing our hope - those promises I just reminded you of - with a world that is right now devoid of hope. 

A recent video we put on Facebook was seen by more than 5,000 people. 5,000 people reached with quite minimal effort! We couldn’t fit 500 people into our hall. It’s not the same, but it is an opportunity for us to bless the city we live in right now with the good news of Jesus. 

Decentralising pastoral care - a care network

Crises force you to reassess what’s really important. As a pastor these last two weeks have reminded me that the beating heart of my vocation is the ministry of the word of God and of prayer. To pastor God’s people by reminding them of his promises, by praying with them and for them, and by caring for the flock of Jesus I have the privilege of serving.

Another opportunity before us is to maximise this care by decentralising it.

You may have seen that just yesterday I invited everyone in the congregation to sign up to a care network. The idea is simple. A network of church members who will commit to receiving, and distributing prayer points for those in need. A network who will also be up for helping those most vulnerable and isolated - that may mean a daily phone call to an elderly friend from church, or dropping off some groceries to someone unable to get to the shops. Adapting to this crisis enables us to come back to the basics of what the church does - pray for one another and care for one another. 

The analogy of the spider and the starfish falls over at one point though. We have a head, the Lord Jesus. The one who sits enthroned in heaven. And that’s the key. As long as our head is in heaven he cannot be defeated, and neither can we. In fact his ascension - empowers him to be more present over all the earth through the witness of his body, the church.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Colossians 1.15-20