Maggi Barnard

While many NSW businesses started the long road back from lockdown on Monday, a new era also started for businesses in regional NSW that have been out of lockdown.

“In Regional NSW, we have been lucky enough to have been open for the past few weeks while other areas in the state have been in lockdown,” said President of the Parkes Chamber of Commerce Geoff Rice.

“However, from Monday our businesses had to align with the rest of NSW as the state reopened. This means that non-essential retail businesses will need to ensure that customers are double vaccinated, and staff members have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccination and are fully vaccinated by 1st November.”

The NSW Government is updating the Service NSW app to link the digital COVID-19 vaccination certification in the coming weeks. “In the meantime, you will need to manually check for not only the QR code check-in, but also for the customer’s COVID-19 proof of vaccination,” said Geoff.

“It’s been such a difficult time for businesses across the state. The Chamber of Commerce will continue to provide support and guidance to our local business community where we can to ensure that we collectively remain committed to ensuring the safety of our community, whilst safeguarding the strength and resilience of our businesses.”

Mayor of Parkes Shire Ken Keith OAM said: “We understand this is a challenging time for everyone, but we ask our community to practice kindness and patience as our businesses are only following the direction of the NSW Government.”

For businesses who need advice or support regarding these changes, contact the NSW Business Chamber, Services NSW or visit www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/businesses-and-employment/covid-safe-business.

Astigmatism is a common optical condition caused by the shape of the front surface of the eye.

Symptoms include: squinting to see, complaining of glare or getting frontal tension headaches may indicate you have this condition in your optical system.

An eye with no astigmatism is perfectly spherical in shape, like a marble. An astigmatic eye has a distorted shape, slightly like a football or grape. This can cause the image formed at the back of the eye to be distorted. Most people have a low degree of this condition originating in either the cornea or the lens inside the eye. Low degrees can slightly distort your vision, for example a ‘C’ may look like an ‘O’ or a ‘G’. You may also experience strain or discomfort with visual concentration. In higher degrees, astigmatism can cause images at all distances to be distorted or blurred.

It is easily corrected with spectacles or contact lenses.

Usually, astigmatism stays relatively stable, however there are some conditions that continue to progress. The most common one is keratoconus.

Keratoconus is caused by a thinning of the front surface of the eye, the cornea. This thinning causes the cornea to rapidly change shape creating high degrees of astigmatism and distortion. People with keratoconus may need hard contact lenses to obtain clear vision, or may need a surgical procedure to stabilise their cornea. Research has shown that eye rubbing (usually due to allergies like hay fever) can progress this condition.

Make an apoointment with the experienced optometrists at Hansen Eyecare Plus today for an assessment.