How Kerryn Coleman's daily shout outs became a fixture of Canberra's COVID lockdown press conferences

Chief health officer Kerryn Coleman's daily shout outs have become a regular fixture during the 11.45am media briefing, a chance for some of Canberra's essential workers to be recognised for the jobs they do during the lockdown.

So much so that people across the city have been waiting to see if they have been included in the daily announcement.

However, all ACT residents have been included at least once, with the shout out on August 31 going out to all Canberrans during the lockdown, due to them putting the territory in a good position in its fight against COVID.

Dr Coleman said she was surprised by the level of attention in the shout outs each day in the press conferences.

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"I'm really happy to see the interest in the daily shout outs that the community has shown, and I'm incredibly grateful to the whole team," Dr Coleman said at Friday's press conference.

"I don't just mean ACT Health or ACT government teams, but every essential worker who gets out there everyday and keeps Canberra running.

"I know these people aren't necessarily doctors and nurses and health people, but there are a lot of people working behind the scenes, and I don't know what we would do without them."

ACT's daily COVID press conferences have been going on for more than four weeks, following the first case in Canberra which triggered the lockdown being announced on August 12.

It did take some time though for the shout outs to make their first appearance, with the early press conferences heavily focused on the new COVID restrictions and vital information about the lockdown.

However, on August 21 - nine days after the start of the lockdown - the daily shout outs began their run, and have not stopped since.

The first of the shout outs began with little fanfare, with Dr Coleman briefly acknowledging the work of volunteers in the early days of the lockdown.

"In addition to ACT Health and ACT emergency services, the ESA, ADF and all other ACT government directorates, there are a lot of volunteers working as part of the response," she said at the time.

"I want to give a big shout out to the volunteers of St John's Ambulance who have helped with contact tracing and are doing a very important job."

Since then, Dr Coleman's shout outs have been more prominent during the end of her address at the press conferences.

Shout outs have ranged from epidemiologists, hospital staff, Auslan interpreters, couriers, family and friends of essential workers, Canberra's children, social media and web teams, transport staff and animal workers.

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It hasn't been only been the chief health officer taking part in the shout outs, with deputy Dr Vanessa Johnston also taking over the duty when Dr Coleman has been away from the press conference.

It's still unclear how long Canberra's lockdowns and daily press conferences will last for, but given its reaction, expect the shout outs to stay for the time being.

A rare bit of good news during an uncertain time.

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