Covid Qld: Office workers urged by chief health officer to stay home

Queensland’s chief health officer has issued a stark warning for people in offices to go home, amid fears there are too many people on the streets, while essential workers in the CBD will benefit from free parking, the Lord Mayor says.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young has urged people in offices to go home as she warned there were far too many people on the road amid the state’s strict lockdown.

In a stark message, the state’s top doctor stressed that Queenslanders in the impacted local government areas should not leave their homes unless they needed to.

“I cannot understand why anyone would be in an office today,” Dr Young said.

“If you are in an office today, why aren’t you at home?

“There are far too many cars out on the road when I drove in this morning.”

She said she needed fewer people with Covid so that health officials could provide the best care possible to those already infected.

Brisbane’s streets were quiet on Monday morning, but not quiet enough. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jono Searle

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said there was an obligation on employers to ensure their staff stayed at home unless it was “absolutely essential”.

“This is a message to employers: does your staff really need to be coming into work,” she said.

“Do they need to be coming into the office?

“Can they be working from home? If the answer is yes, then that’s where they should be.”

Ms D’Ath said while food shopping was essential, retail shopping was not.

“Only go out when you really need to go shopping and getting your groceries,” she said.

For those with no choice but to attend their workplace, every Brisbane parking meter will be turned off and the fees at two major inner-city car parks significantly reduced in a move by the council to assist essential workers.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner announced the decision on Monday, which will see parking made free at the roughly 8,000 parking meters across the city.

He said the cost of parking at the King George Square and Wickham Terrace car parks would also be reduced to $5 per day until further notice.

“This measure will mean doctors, nurses and many other essential workers who still need to commute to work can park in any one of our spaces for little or no cost,” Cr Schrinner said.

“We don’t know how long this current lockdown will go on for given the number of cases involving the Delta variant which are occurring in the community.”

The maximum daily fee at both car parks is usually $35, which means the temporarily reduced fees will save commuters about $30 per day.