Premier, Chief Health Officer plead with Queenslanders to follow social distancing, stay at home if sick
The Premier and Chief Medical Officer are pleading with Queenslanders to follow coronavirus guidelines or face even tighter lockdowns in coming weeks.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE Premier has warned Queensland communities could face tighter lockdowns in the coming weeks if people continue to flout social distancing guidelines.
It comes as the Chief Health Officer pleaded with Queenslanders to stop going to work while sick, revealing a number of COVID-19 positive people had continued to work for days with symptoms.
“When I was coming into work this morning I saw five people sitting on a park bench on a picnic table in very close proximity to each other,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
Pupil free week from Monday so teachers can prepare for remote learning
Australia’s COVID-19 lockdown: Why restrictions won't ease like Italy's
50 new coronavirus cases pushes state tally to 493
“That can’t happen. Social distancing means social distancing.
“It doesn’t mean sitting on a park bench next to each other chatting, we can’t do that anymore folks.
“We’ve got to do the right thing by everyone.”
It comes as Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young issued an impassioned plea for Queenslanders to stay home.
“My first very, very strong piece of advice for every Queenslander is if you are sick, stay home,” Dr Young said.
“It doesn’t matter what the cause of that illness is, stay home.
“Then if you’re in one of those categories that mean you could have COVID 19 seek advice, get assessed and then get tested if you meet the criteria. That’s really important.”
Dr Young said a number of people had not followed that advice.
“We are still seeing people go to work for three or four days unwell and then think ‘this might be COVID-19’ and get tested and yes it is and then we have to do an enormous amount of contact tracing, we require a large number of people to go into quarantine,” she said.
“So if we could just stop that one problem. If every single Queenslander, all five million of us if we get unwell, just stay home.”
“It’s the best advice anytime and now it’s more important than ever.”
Dr Young said it was critical to the health of the entire community that people stayed home.
“I can understand that people have jobs they need to do, I understand that some people won’t get paid and I realise how difficult that is,” she said.
“But that is my absolute imperative that I’m asking you if you are sick, stay home.”
The Premier warned specific communities in Queensland could face further lockdowns and restrictions if the situation escalated.
“What you will see from Queensland in the coming weeks and months is that you may see communities or areas that will have more lockdown conditions in their regions,” the premier said.
“We are not at that stage yet I’m very comfortable where we are.
“A lot of contact tracing is happening a lot of our numbers are from people who have come from overseas and we are definitely not at that stage yet.
“But can I say that we are getting ready and can I thank Queenslanders for doing the right thing.”
Has Labor lost the regions to Qld’s ‘de facto National Party’?
Katter’s Australian Party claims its support base is surging in the aftermath of Labor’s state election drubbing, and it’s a shift in dynamic that could have major implications for both parties in regional Queensland.
They just sang while she died: Neighbours haunted by religious chants for Elizabeth
For two days the parents of little Elizabeth Struhs and their fellow religious fanatics sang and prayed as she lay dying. Only after her tragic death have neighbours realised what the chants they overheard signified.