Covid Gold Coast: Mayor Tom Tate’s extraordinary blast at government over omicron

Queensland’s top doctor has responded to Mayor Tom Tate’s request for full transparency about the severity of Covid, warning “all of us are going to be exposed”.

QUEENSLAND’S top doctor has responded to Mayor Tom Tate’s request for full transparency about the severity of Covid, warning “all of us are going to be exposed”.

Mr Tate wrote to Queensland chief health officer John Gerrard late last week asking for a breakdown of Omicron cases in the city and the severity of the highly infectious Covid variant when compared with influenza. At one point he said if Omicron “doesn’t kill you more than the flu, then it is more of an Omi-con”.

Mr Tate’s letter said: “If it is evident the risk from Omicron is similar or less than seasonal influenza risk, then of course the public will rightly ask whether the Government is asleep at the wheel here or whether some of the current restrictions and requirements are a cynical exercise in political control.”

Mayor Tom Tate. Picture Glenn Hampson

Dr Gerrard said the mayor’s question was “not entirely illegitimate”.

“The first thing to say is the number of cases we have seen with omicron is vastly greater than what we experience in a typical influenza epidemic, a seasonal epidemic. That has a huge impact on the hospitals,” he said.

“We don’t see this number of people getting sick with influenza. While in vaccinated people and with the omicron strain, it’s clearly not anything like the Covid-19 we were dealing with a year ago prior to vaccination.

“So how close they are (flu and omicron) to each other, we need time. This is a new virus. We need more time to find out what your likelihood of ending up in hospital is, whether you’re vaccinated, unvaccinated.”

Dr Gerrard said health officials were working with significant amounts of information coming in from testing locations.

Dr John Gerrard Picture: Richard Walker

“All this data is arriving day by day and we are getting more and more information every day,” he said.

“Most of it is pretty good news. But the big problem is the sheer number of people who are going to get this virus. All of us are going to be exposed in the next few weeks.”

Quarantine rules for close contacts had played havoc with small business staffing last week, prompting the Prime Minister to redefine a “close contact” as only someone in your own household who you had been around for more than four hours.

The mayor said greater transparency was needed for continuing restrictions.

“I’m asking these questions not as a medical expert but as the mayor of a city that has seen its economy devastated by the impacts of Covid,’’ he said.

“I am not asking these questions to cause undue concern but I know the same questions are being asked by thousands of other Gold Coasters right now.’’

“I know that in 2019, five Queenslanders a week were dying from the flu. The last year’s total was 264 yet that year, we did not lockdown borders, shut businesses, close international borders, isolate families, suspend schooling and ban music and sporting events.

“While one death is one too many, it does raise the question: how virulent and dangerous is Omicron when compared to the common flu?”

A Queensland Health spokeswoman said: “The focus is on keeping Queenslanders safe.”

“Particularly now, as case numbers rise, it’s important Queenslanders continue to wear masks, check-in at venues and get their booster shots. You only have to look overseas, or interstate, to see the divesting effect Covid-19 can have, if not managed effectively.

“Whenever a mandate or restrictions have been put in place, our priority is always to maintain an appropriate balance between public safety and minimising disruption to the lives of Queenslanders.”

Covid restrictions ‘a cynical exercise in political control’

GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate has launched an extraordinary broadside at the state government, accusing it of being “asleep at the wheel” over the Omicron outbreak.

He has written to chief health officer Dr John Gerrard asking for a breakdown of Omicron cases in the city and the severity of the highly infectious Covid variant when compared with influenza.

Mr Tate wrote: “If it is evident that the risk from Omicron is similar or less than seasonal influenza risk, then of course the public will rightly ask whether the Government is asleep at the wheel here or whether some of the current restrictions and requirements are a cynical exercise in political control. It has long been my view, that where decisions of government directly affect the lives of citizens, every effort should be made to share the information that is driving the decisions,” he said.

“Given the direct impacts on the public therefore, I ask that this information be made available to me along with being provided to the public regularly so people can reconcile the decisions being made by the government around things like self-isolation and Covid testing requirements and enforcement of health directives by the hospitality sector.”

A Queensland Health spokeswoman said in a statement “The focus is on keeping Queenslanders safe.”

“We continue to update Queenslanders daily on what’s occurring with Covid-19 in our state and we thank all Queenslanders for turning to trusted sources for advice, and for following the health advice that helps keep all of our communities safe,” he said.

“Particularly now, as case numbers rise, it’s important Queenslanders continue to wear masks, check-in at venues and get their booster shots. You only have to look overseas, or interstate, to see the divesting effect Covid-19 can have, if not managed effectively.

“Whenever a mandate or restrictions have been put in place, our priority is always to maintain an appropriate balance between public safety and minimising disruption to the lives of Queenslanders.”

Quarantine rules for close contacts had played havoc with small business staffing last week, prompting the Prime Minister to redefine a “close contact” as only someone in your own household who you had been around for more than four hours.

The mayor said greater transparency was needed about the reasons for continuing restrictions.

“If Omicron doesn’t kill you more than the flu did, then it is more of an Omi-Con – the people of Queensland wouldn’t wear that,” he said. “If it is more lethal then happy to oblige while we work it through but it has been 22 months.”

The Mayor’s spray is the latest step in his split with the state government over the handling of the pandemic.

Cr Tate was in lock-step with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for much of the first 18 months of the crisis but since mid-2021 has become increasingly critical of restrictions placed on the Gold Coast.

It comes as the state recorded 3587 new cases of Covid, with five people now in intensive care.

Dr Gerrard said 16,688 cases were active in Queensland: “So clearly the disease we are seeing now is of a severity that is significantly less than was seen prior to vaccination … overseas and in Australia.

“Only five people, not on life support, in our intensive care units. That number is quite low indeed. So this is a vastly different disease that we’re seeing, the severity to what was seen last year and prior to vaccination.

“The issue we are facing though, of course, is with the degree of contagiousness of this virus, we’re going to be seeing very large numbers of cases.

“Even though the severity is clearly going to be less, we are going to see very large numbers of cases and a small proportion of a very large number is still a large number.”