Covid Qld: New case spring up as authorities scramble to trace contacts
Queensland has recorded six new Covid-19 cases, including an unvaccinated truck driver who was in the community for a week and stayed in two hotels and a guesthouse, as talks are held over Sunday’s NRL Grand Final, and some restrictions will make a return.
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Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the state has recorded six new Covid-19 cases, as multiple sites in Brisbane are on alert and authorities scramble to trace contacts, casting doubt over Sunday’s NRL Grand Final.
Four of the cases are locally acquired, with one of those causing “a little concern”, as it was detected in a truck driver who was in the community for a week and stayed in two hotels and a guesthouse, prompting calls for more truckies to get vaccinated.
Meanwhile, acting deputy police commissioner Shane Chelepy said a male in his 50s was found dead in his hotel quarantine room in Brisbane.
The first community case, an aviation worker in his 30s, was infectious in the community since September 23 and authorities believe he could have come in contact with international pilots. The second case is his wife.
The third case, who the Premier said Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young is “a little bit more concerned about”, is the truck driver, which also forms a second cluster separate to the aviation worker.
Dr Young said he had been infectious in the community for eight days and had stayed in three different accommodation venues, including two hotels in Spring Hill – the Metropolitan Hotel between September 21 and 24 and the Royal Albert between September 18 and 21 – and the South Brisbane guesthouse that was placed under police guard on Tuesday morning.
Dr Young is not considering moving people at the hotels because they have their own ensuites.
However, they are looking at the South Brisbane guesthouse because it has shared bathrooms.
Around 25 people were staying there.
Authorities are working with the truck driver to work out how he contracted the virus.
“We’re working through with the managers of those three facilities … to who was there,” Dr Young said.
The fourth case is a woman who completed 14 days in hotel quarantine before testing positive after leaving. Dr Young said the woman had tested negative five days after exiting hotel quarantine.
Authorities are now determining how she got it, with Dr Young saying it could be late shedding of the virus.
The Premier said a lockdown was not imminent, and there was no change to the arrangements for Sunday’s NRL Grand Final at this stage after a leading epidemiologist urged authorities to postpone the event following reports of the infections in Brisbane.
Dr Young said a final decision on the NRL Grand Final was not required today and she would monitor the decision right up until Sunday morning.
Dr Young said a high number of cases would force a lockdown, but said she was confident the state would manage the latest outbreak.
“I’m very comforted by the fact people do know how to respond and respond very quickly,” she said.
“We’ll just see what happens what happens over the next few days.”
Ms Palaszczuk said masks were the “best line of defence”.
“There’s no need to panic because Queenslanders have been doing the right thing,” she said.
“We want to go back to people wearing masks indoors if you live in the Brisbane area and the Moreton Bay region.”
Aged care facilities, hospitals, prisons and disability services facilities will be restricted to visitors.
Queensland will mandate the vaccination of truck drivers entering the state after seven drivers have entered Queensland while infectious since late August.
Ms Palaszczuk said from October 15 it will be mandatory for drivers to have received the first dose and the second dose by November 15.
The state will establish a roadside vaccination facility at John Flynn Private Hospital at Tugun.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said freight workers had lower vaccination rates compared to the public.
“We’ve been working with the industry around this,” he said.
Drivers will also be forced to receive a negative test at least seven days prior to entering Queensland.
He said Queensland Health would “prioritise” freight workers and truckies for vaccination.
Mr Bailey expects about 200 vaccinations will be provided at the Tugun roadside facility each day.
Vaccinated drivers will be permitted to go about the Queensland community normally.
Mr Bailey said “now is the time to act and get the jab”.
On a broader level, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said everyone needed to get vaccinated, urging people to not wait until there was another outbreak.
“There are plenty of options, there is no reason to not be getting vaccinated now,” she said.
Ms D’Ath said the mass vaccination hub at Boondall would be accepting walk-ins from today, with Dr Young stressing the importance of getting vaccinated sooner rather than later.
“It’s really important, we don’t know where our next case is going to come from,” she said.
“We just need all Queenslanders 12 years or older to come forward and get vaccinated.
“There will be somewhere that can vaccinate you today.”
Dr Young said there was no plans to rollout drive-through vaccination clinics, following calls from Opposition Leader David Crisafulli, due to the difficulty in monitoring people.
Dr Young said the state’s mass vaccination clinics were effective.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said drive-through vaccination clinics were “less efficient” and would “slow down our vaccination rate”.
Ms D’Ath said the Queensland government had reached out to Victorian counterparts regarding the testing method and said that it was “very inefficient” and only necessary if there is widespread community transmission.
“In Victoria, they are only putting through about a third or a quarter of their capacity, so I wouldn’t say it’s efficient, I would say it’s very inefficient,” Ms D’Ath said.
“The drive throughs are only necessary if there is widespread transmission, and it’s also dangerous because healthcare workers are getting right up close to potential cases in their cars.”
Ms D’Ath told Mr Crisafulli to start listening to the advice and the evidence.
Ms Palaszczuk said the state government was investigating alternative options to hotel quarantine.
“It’s a very very difficult time for anyone to be in hotel quarantine - we are looking at a number of measures,” she said.
“It is a very difficult situation - it is a very tough time for everyone.”
Ms Palaszczuk said there was no change to the arrangements for Sunday’s NRL Grand Final at this stage after a leading epidemiologist urged authorities to postpone the event following reports of the infections in Brisbane.
“We’ll be updating the community every single day, very early stages at the moment,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
The city was on Tuesday morning rocked by news of the truck driver case within a matter of hours of the aviation worker, with the South Brisbane guesthouse placed under police guard.
The Adalong Guesthouse on Stephens Road has been cordoned off by police as authorities scramble to gather more information, but it is believed the case is not linked to the case detected in an aviation worker that was alerted late on Monday night.
The aviation industry employee unknowingly infected with the virus visited a busy childcare centre northwest of Brisbane, making it one of several new contact sites to be added to Queensland Health’s website late on Monday night.
The third case is expected to be confirmed as the aviation worker’s wife, with more contact sites to be added in the coming hours.
Dr Young says she is still waiting to see specific Doherty modelling before making decisions around Queensland’s border.
It comes after Ms Palaszczuk called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to release “revised Doherty modelling” ahead of Friday’s national cabinet which she said she needed before making any border or restriction decisions.
Dr Young said she had seen some “preliminary information” from Doherty which would go to national cabinet this week.
“It’s really about seeing that different information, so you all saw that original Doherty modelling that looked at the 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccination,” she said.
“Then there’s further Doherty modelling that looks at those vaccination rates starting at different starting points, so it’s really looking at that.”
The Prime Minister’s office on Monday said Ms Palaszczuk already had modelling around how cases would grow if the country opened up amid interstate outbreaks.
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