Qld’s Covid-19 management plan evolves from mandates to personal responsibility despite soaring cases

In the space of a year, Queensland’s Covid-19 management plan has evolved from mandates and lockdowns to just encouraging people to wear their masks. Here’s how the state’s plan has changed. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Twelve months ago, the government had a strict approach to managing the Covid-19 pandemic which included snap lockdowns, masks and contact tracing.

Now, the state has issued a “self-responsibility” approach where it’s up to Queenslanders to manage the virus themselves, despite the number of active cases and hospitalisations skyrocketing to the highest it’s ever been.

This time last year, the second Covid-19 variant, Delta, was circulating quickly across the state.

In reaction to the growing cases, the government placed all of South East Queensland into a snap three-day lockdown at the start of August, 2021.

During the lockdown, only essential workers and essential travel within 10km of the home was allowed.

An empty Queen Street Mall as Brisbane and other parts of the southeast were placed into lockdown in August 2022. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Masks were mandatory, schools, gyms, places of worship and cinemas all shut and no visitors were allowed at home across 11 LGAs in the state.

During this wave, the state saw a peak of 165 total active cases, compared to today’s figure of around 66,000 active cases.

There was also a peak of 83 people in hospital and one in the ICU, compared to 1170 in hospital today and 33 people in the ICU.

Contact tracing was also a major part of the state’s Covid-19 management plan with the government uploading the exact dates and times of people entering and exiting a location.

This time last year, Dreamworld and the Sandstone Point Hotel were two of the hot spots.

Queensland also shut its border to New South Wales at the end of July after the state recorded 124 new cases overnight.

Today, NSW recorded 14,067 new cases and more than 2000 people in hospital.

The Queensland Government has now backflipped on its mandate policy to a “self-responsibility” model where people are encouraged to wear masks and stay indoors, but mandates and lockdowns are showing no signs of returning.

Contact tracing through the Check In Qld app was a key plank of the Covid response. Picture: Brendan Radke

Infectious diseases expert Paul Griffin said fundamentally, keeping Queenslanders responsible for their own actions was the right option, but more needed to be done on the government’s end.

“I don’t think mandates are the solution right now, but we should be doing more to facilitate people to do the right thing. They should be educated on what’s required and how to do it, and on the benefits of why they should be doing it,” he said.

Dr Griffin said he believed the state was “ill prepared” for the situation at hand due to an over reliance on modelling.

“I don’t think the government expected this situation. I think there was some over reliance on modelling … I think we should’ve been prepared for a situation like we have now. We knew we were going to be in a situation like this and I think we were ill prepared,” he said.