Covid Qld: Expert warns against another mask mandate amid latest wave

As Queensland faces another worrying surge of Omicron cases, an infectious-diseases expert has warned against another mask mandate. VOTE IN OUR POLL

A leading infectious-diseases expert has warned against enforcing the use of masks amid Queensland’s worrying new Covid-19 wave, saying people are “just sick of a lot of these rules”.

The spectre of a new mask mandate was raised by the state’s Chief Health Officer John Gerrard as winter Covid-19 cases soar on top of spiralling flu cases.

Dr Gerrard on Friday said there was “increasing pressure … (and) a school of thought that we should be mandating masks again”.

On Saturday, Deputy Premier Steven Miles refused to rule out a new mask mandate.

Mr Miles said there were 5000 new Covid-19 cases in Queensland – 10 times the number of new flu infections – with 500 people in hospital.

He said this was equivalent to the number of beds in a medium-sized hospital.

“We are seeing a lot of new Covid cases,” he said.

“We’re clearly feeling the effects of this in the community, in workplaces and in hospitals.

“The chief health officers continue to meet regularly and they continue to compare notes about how the virus is spreading in each of the states as well as the intelligence we get from right around the world.”

Mr Miles said health advice around masks had not changed “at this stage” but the state government was closely monitoring the situation.

Infectious diseases expert Associate Professor Paul Griffin said the return of compulsory masks would not work “because I think people are just sick of a lot of these rules and are not keen for mandates to return”.

Associate Professor Paul Griffin

He said it would be better to encourage people to wear masks voluntarily by educating them about the benefits and the need to get Covid-19 booster shots.

“They (masks) do actually make a big difference, particularly if you add their protection to being fully vaccinated,” he said.

Queensland Hotels Association chief executive Bernie Hogan said the tourism and hospitality industry would strongly resist the return of mandatory masks.

“It would cause a huge amount of angst and be seen as an incredible hindrance after the pandemic restrictions went for so long,” he said.

“Just when everyone else around the world is starting to get rid of them, and people are understanding what living with Covid means, Queensland is talking about another mask mandate.

“People just need to get vaccinated, stay home if they’re feeling unwell and wear a mask if they want to.”

Prof Griffin said the current Covid-19 wave was expected to peak in the coming weeks, and warned that hospitals could be overwhelmed unless Queensland got on top of the situation.

But with school holidays ending this week, he said he did not believe a mask mandate in classrooms would work either.

“Mask-wearing in schools is so challenging,” he said.

“What we really want to focus on is not going back to any measures where the harm may be greater than the benefit.

“We have other tools at our disposal that we should try and use better in the first instance in my opinion.”