Queensland can no longer avoid ‘new era’ of Covid-19

Experts have warned Queensland must enter a ‘new era’ in its fight against Covid-19, with suppression of the virus now an impossibility.

Queenslanders are being warned that suppression of the Covid-19 virus is not possible as the state dodges another lockdown, despite the emergence of a mystery case that was infectious in the community for 10 days.

Despite previously stating that just one unlinked case of the virus could put the state into lockdown, chief health ­officer Dr Jeannette Young said she was comforted by the fact that the infected woman was fully vaccinated and all members of her household had so far tested negative.

The unlinked, locally acquired case is a masseuse in her 50s from Fitzgibbon in Brisbane’s north who worked at six massage parlours while infectious since September 23.

Little Crown Massage in Slacks Creek was named as one of the Covid hot spots. Picture: Liam Kidston.

Dr Young said increased testing due to a string of ­recent clusters, the woman’s vaccination status and her entire household so far testing negative made her confident a lockdown was not necessary.

“The only thing that’s reassuring me is the amount of testing we’ve done,” she said.

“This has happened at the same time that we’ve had those restrictions in place, and that enhanced testing.

“I’d like to see more testing just to make sure we haven’t missed anything, but she’s been out and about, and we haven’t seen any cases.”

There are three people who live in the same house as the woman and all have tested negative so far.

But Dr Young said it appeared that not every client who attended the six massage parlours had checked in.

She urged everyone in the suburbs with exposure sites listed – Archerfield, Cannon Hill, Redcliffe, Chermside, Sacks Creek, Boondall and Bracken Ridge – to have a Covid test immediately if they had any symptoms.

Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young speaks during a press conference on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Dr Young said she wanted testing numbers to increase so she could be sure there had been no community transmission going on as a result of the latest case.

The mystery Queensland case came as federal Health Minister Greg Hunt announced on Monday that 80 per cent of Australians would have received their first vaccination within the coming week, which he said was a “critical milestone”.

Leading infectious disease expert Professor Robert Booy said the country was moving into a “new era” of managing Covid-19 in the community.

“How we manage will change dramatically over the coming one to two months,” he said.

Professor Booy said he ­predicted that some places would have a higher tolerance for community transmission without bringing in restrictions, particularly if they were protected by high vaccination rates, while others would continue to try to suppress the virus. 

“As much as Queensland would like to try and keep as many ‘doughnut days’ (how Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk refers to days with no cases) as possible, that will just become harder and harder,” he said. “Suppression becomes much harder once things start opening up.”

Testing at the 4Cyte drive-through testing centre at Bridgeman Downs on Brisbane’s northside. Picture: David Clark

Dr Young said she was still waiting on genome sequencing that she hoped would reveal how the woman contracted the virus, with ­contact-tracers unable to identify any links ­between the woman and the current clusters.

There are 26 active cases of Covid-19 in the state, with a total of three new cases announced on Monday. The other two were detected in hotel quarantine.

Stage 2 restrictions are set to remain until next week for the Local Government Areas of Brisbane, Gold Coast, Moreton Bay, Logan, Townsville and Palm Island.

The restrictions mean the number of people allowed into homes is restricted to 30, weddings and funerals are capped at 100, only 20 people can dance at weddings and restaurants and cafes must adhere to the one person per 4sq m rule.

But photos and footage of Sunday night’s NRL grand final blockbuster showing hardly anyone in the crowd wearing masks has sparked calls of double standards from the state government.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the “hypocrisy” was galling.

“No one is suggesting a game of footy isn’t a great thing for our wellbeing, our economy, it’s just that people in the hospitality industry ask why they aren’t able to make an honest living too,” he said.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Deputy Premier Steven Miles attended the game at Suncorp Stadium and said he thought the crowd adhered to Covid restrictions well.

“A lot of people at the game that I saw were eating and drinking,” he said. “Certainly, I think compliance with mask wearing in and out of the stadium until people got to their seats I thought was very high.”