Why Dr Young was desperate for Qld’s borders to reopen

She’s been endlessly criticised for her hardline border stance, but now Jeannette Young has revealed her own very personal reasons for desperately wanting it reopened.

Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young has come under fire for the difficult decisions that have kept families apart, sometimes at times of tragedy, during the COVID pandemic.

But for the first time, she has revealed her own personal heartache at keeping state borders closed – some of her closest family members, including pregnant daughter, Rebecca, 29, live interstate.

Dr Young has received death threats, resulting in 24-hour police protection, and she’s faced accusations of lacking compassion in the past 11 months.

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Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young. Photo: Mark Cranitch.

At the same time, few have been privy to the emotional toll the pandemic has had on her, unable to visit her elderly parents in Sydney, or her eldest daughter, due to give birth early next year.

“It’s hard for people who have got sick relatives, it is really difficult,” Young says in response to the attacks she’s endured during the pandemic.

“It’s terrible to not be able to see your family.

“I’ve had very, very few critical or nasty comments. People have genuinely been absolutely lovely. And the people who haven’t, often it’s because they genuinely have been badly impacted.”

Young has not been able to visit Rebecca, who is 33 weeks pregnant and living with her husband in Victoria, or her elderly parents and sisters in Sydney, since the borders closed in March.

“I’ve been desperate for that border to open,” she says. “It’s the longest I’ve gone not seeing them.”

The way Young explains it, closing Queensland’s borders in March was Public Health Principles 101.

“That was an awful decision to even think about doing,” she admits.

“Public health protocol is you try and minimise movement of infectious people. You don’t want people coming from a high area of infection to a low area of infection because it will just spread it and continue to spread it. I am a very, very conservative person. I’m always going to take the safest outcome.”

Queensland will never know how many lives Young has protected through the complex decisions she’s responsible for under the Public Health Act.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Peter Wallis

“That person you’ve stopped coming into Queensland to see their relatives, did that stop 50 cases?” she says.

“You don’t know because you’ve stopped them.

“The problem with prevention is you don’t know what you’ve prevented unless you go and look overseas at what’s happened.

“When I saw what was happening in New York, when they were digging those mass graves, our numbers were doubling in Queensland every four days and I was thinking, ‘We’re about to be overrun.’ ”

Instead, with Young at the helm, the coronavirus curve has been smashed in this state, but she warns SARS-CoV-2 is here to stay.

Queenslanders will need to remain vigilant. Some of those infected will face long-term consequences, potentially for the rest of their lives.

“Every disease for some people can cause catastrophic outcomes,” she says.

“But this one causes more, I think, it really does, and we won’t know for a long time because this is a new disease that’s going to be in the world now going forward.

“There’s no way we can eliminate it.”

Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young, is looking ahead to 2021 with excitement, not fear. Photo: Mark Cranitch.

But after a gloomy year, Young is looking ahead to 2021 with excitement, not fear.

“I think next year will be fantastic, absolutely fantastic,” she says.

“As long as people just keep that fundamental response, which is: ‘If you’re sick, stay home,’ then we’ll be fine.’’

As results from multiple COVID-19 vaccine trials show success, she’s already turning her mind to the next phase of Queensland’s response. The logistics are enormous. To fully vaccinate every Queenslander, about 10 million doses will be needed, with the rollout planned to begin in March.

“They need to finish all the trials and the processes, all that has to happen,” she says.

“It will be a perfectly safe vaccine. There are no short cuts. I hope to be one of the first people who lines up to get jabbed.”

But first she plans a visit to see her grandchild in Melbourne, borders permitting.

READ HER FULL INTERVIEW HERE