Dozens gather for Christmas lunch at pub that was ground zero

Dozens of people have gathered at a Brisbane pub for a slap-up Christmas feast just over a week after it was announced as ground zero of Queensland’s latest COVID-19 crisis

Just over a week after it became ground zero of Queensland’s latest COVID-19 crisis, dozens of people gathered at The Glen Hotel at Browns Plains yesterday for a slap-up Christmas feast.

The Glen’s popular Christmas lunch went ahead as usual, despite the pub – and hundreds of patrons, staff and their families – being thrown into turmoil after a woman, who was unknowingly COVID-infected, had lunch there on December 16.

She had travelled to Queensland from Sydney’s northern beaches, the COVID hotspot which led Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to again slam shut the border to greater Sydney on Tuesday, less than three weeks after it was reopened.

The case triggered a major health alert, with The Glen’s staff placed in home quarantine and an urgent contact tracing hunt launched in a desperate bid to ensure the killer virus did not spread into relatively COVID-free Queensland.

The Glen Hotel at Eight Mile Plains on Monday 21st December 2020. Picture: David Clark

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Almost 600 people with links to the hotel were traced by Queensland Health, with close contacts ordered into home quarantine.

Cleaners in hazmat-style suits were brought in to deep clean the family-owned pub.

With 90 per cent of its staff in quarantine, The Glen this week put out an SOS to hospitality workers to lend a hand over Christmas.

It was inundated with offers of help, allowing it to reopen last weekend.

Virologist Ian Mackay, who is an associate professor at UQ, said cases of COVID-19 could pop up after the woman visited venues including The Glen Hotel.

“The reason to keep everybody quarantined for now, is to make sure that’s not happening (spreading) when they’re out Christmas shopping, meeting with their elderly relatives,” he said.

“We know that all 580 aren’t going to become sick or test positive but there is a chance that some will and how big that some is, we really don’t have an idea.”

University of Queensland virologist Associate Professor Ian Mackay. Photo: Annette Dew

Asked whether it was inevitable that Queensland would record more cases, Assoc prof Mackay said “I think it is”.

“We can structure as much in terms of protocols and processes … but it still comes down to human factors,” he said.

“It’s not about blame, it’s about recognising it will keep happening outside our borders (international).”

Assoc prof Mackay acknowledged the hardworking health officials who will be testing around the clock over the Christmas break.

“That means people have to be there lots of hours to do that work to keep Queensland safe because we don’t know anything unless we test,” he said.