Christmas on the line for regions with low jab rates after state reopens
Queensland regions with lagging jab rates have been warned their family Christmas could be at risk, with lockdowns and restrictions on the cards if their Covid numbers skyrocket after the state reopens.
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Queensland regions could spend Christmas in lockdown with the state government acknowledging it “may take a little while” to reach the freedom-triggering 80 per cent vaccination target.
The government is attempting to get more Queenslanders vaccinated amid mounting evidence the state will miss its December 17 deadline to reach 80 per cent double dosed.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has committed to opening to the Covid hotspots of New South Wales and Victoria on that date, but it can now be revealed a Christmas lockdown could be imposed on regions with low vaccination rates and high case numbers.
Education Minister Grace Grace said restrictions would ease as more people got vaccinated, but did not rule out snap lockdowns at Christmas if case numbers skyrocketed in regions with low jab rates.
“We want to make sure that the higher we get those percentages, the more freedoms and the more opening of Queensland we will see,” she said.
“Of course you can’t rule anything out.”
Ms Grace on Saturday acknowledged it “may take a little while” to reach the 80 per cent mark.
“We need more people to come out and get vaccinated there’s no doubt about that,” she said.
Cashmere’s Bree Holloway, 13, received a jab at Bray Park State High School, one of 116 state schools administering vaccinations on Saturday.
Some schools including Albany Creek State High School were so popular they briefly ran out of doses and had to be restocked.
On Friday 18,660 Queenslanders were vaccinated, well below the 30,400 of people needed to get their first dose each day to meet the December 17 deadline.
Despite the modelling showing Queensland will fail to hit its double-dose target, Ms Grace said there was no need to change the strategy to get more people jabbed.
“This strategy, and we’ve been standing up nearly every single day as a government, saying please get vaccinated – we need you to reach those 70 80 and hopefully 90 plus per cent vaccination rates and we were right across the state targeting those areas where there was low vaccination rates,” she said.
“We’re very confident that we will get at least to that over 80 per cent and we’re looking forward to freedom really opening up once we get to 90 per cent-plus and I’m sure we can get there.”
Queensland Deputy chief health officer James Smith said there remained a lack of urgency across the state to get vaccinated.
“I guess there’s a sense of apprehension or complacency – that Covid isn’t the immediate risk that it is,” he said.
South East Queensland continues to avoid a Covid-19 outbreak despite Uber driver Duran Ramen spending 10 days in the Gold Coast community while infectious.
Mr Ramen, who was unvaccinated, is not in the intensive care unit but remains in a “serious but stable” condition at the Gold Coast University Hospital.
Dr Smith said there were still “challenges obtaining information” from the 36-year old about how he entered the state from Melbourne and the locations he attended.
Contact tracing is also underway to determine whether a New South Wales man was infected with Covid-19 while searching for another missing man in Queensland’s outback.
The man, now positive for Covid-19, was camping with Jeremiah Rivers before he went missing in South West Queensland.
After joining the search for Mr Rivers the man was ordered to return to New South Wales, where he later tested positive.
New South Wales authorities are scrambling to identify whether the man acquired the virus after entering the state or if he was infectious while in Queensland’s outback community.
A health spokeswoman said contact tracing was a matter for NSW, but said any Queensland exposure sites would be announced if required.
Mr Rivers disappeared on his journey back to Darwin from a football trip and was last seen near Wilsons River at 9.30am on October 18, about 20km south of Noccundra.
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