Covid-19: Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate calls on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to provide clarity on Queensland reopening date
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has urged Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to “give us all some hope” and detail when Queensland will finally reopen to the rest of the country.
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GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate has urged Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to “give us all some hope” and detail when Queensland will finally reopen to the rest of the country.
“If it’s 80 per cent (vaccination rate), say that and stick to it,” he said
“We need confidence and it would be ludicrous that an Australian could fly to Glasgow before they fly to the Gold Coast.”
It came as the Australian Medical Association Queensland president Chris Perry weighed in and said the Sunshine State may not reopen even when it surpasses the 80 per cent double-dose vaccination target set by national cabinet.
Cr Tate has been calling on city residents to get vaccinated as soon as possible so the Coast can fully “open for business’’ in time for the 2021-22 summer.
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“With hope comes confidence and we need that right now so I strongly encourage the premier to make a public stance on this so Gold Coasters know when the borders will open up and the planes will be back in the skies,’’ he said.
Cr Tate said a recent survey showed more than half of all Australians surveyed would choose a holiday on the Coast if they could cross the border.
He said holiday-makers could bring in billions of dollars of revenue for private enterprise and all tiers of government.
“We need confidence and the Premier can deliver that with a simple statement,” he said.
The Queensland government has been reluctant to commit to a reopening at 80 per cent, with one key concern being a lack of federal support for the health system.
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Meanwhile, Dr Perry said “both sides” of government had contributed to a chronic underfunding situation. He also expressed concern over the readiness of the state’s health network to handle an increase in cases.
“The data, or the evidence that you should open at 80 per cent, isn’t strong,” Dr Perry said.
“We’re seeing three countries – Israel, Denmark and Singapore – open early in the low 80s and then having to close down.
“It’s somewhere between 80 per cent and 90 per cent they’ll need to open. We need to get the tourism industry and the arts back on their feet.
“But I’m not sure that we need to open up at 80 per cent.”
Ms Palaszczuk said at a coronavirus press conference on Tuesday that Queensland was working with national cabinet on a reopening date.
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She would not commit to reopening the border by Christmas or at 80 per cent vaccinated.
“I think we’re dealing with hypotheticals and it will depend what’s happening in NSW and Victoria too,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk has expressed concerns about the impact on children and the unvaccinated.
“It would be negligent if I wasn’t looking at all those issues,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“We don’t want to see a massive Delta outbreak and we have a golden time here in Queensland to get vaccinated.”
On Tuesday, 65.8 per cent of Coast residents had received their first jab and 45.5 per cent were fully vaccinated, up from 62 per cent and 41.7 per cent the week prior.
Qld records two new Covid cases, NSW votes in new premier
Earlier: Queensland has recorded two new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, but Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk believes they are not of particular concern.
She said one of the cases was a three-year-old girl linked to the previously announced aviation cluster. That case was detected in home quarantine.
The second new local case is a 19-year-old Melbourne woman who was alerted she was infectious while on a flight into Queensland.
Anyone who was on Jetstar flight 562 on Monday has been made to enter hotel quarantine.
Ms Palaszczuk said health authorities were not worried.
It was also announced Dr Krispin Hajkowicz has been appointed Queensland’s new chief health officer, taking over from Dr Young.
He is an infectious diseases expert and has treated more than 200 coronavirus patients since the start of the pandemic with his team at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
Meanwhile, the NSW Liberal Party has chosen its replacement for former premier Gladys Berejiklian, who resigned on Friday.
On Monday, Deputy Premier Steven Miles revealed a single new locally acquired infection that had not been linked to any previously announced cases.
The case is a masseuse in her 50s from Fitzgibbon in the north of Brisbane, who worked at six massage parlours and spent 10 days in the community while infected from September 23.
Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young previously said unlinked cases could result in lockdowns being imposed.
But Dr Young said on Monday the fully vaccinated masseuse’s family had all tested negative to the virus and testing numbers across the state were relatively high.
“The only thing that’s reassuring me is the amount of testing we’ve done,” she said.
“This has happened at the same time that we’ve had those restrictions in place, and that enhanced testing.
“I’d like to see more testing just to make sure we haven’t missed anything, but she’s been out and about, and we haven’t seen any cases.”
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Contract tracing and genomic sequencing was underway, but it seemed not every person who attended the six massage parlours had used the Check In Qld app.
On Tuesday, Victoria announced 1763 new local cases and four deaths, while NSW recorded 608 new cases and seven deaths.
Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said the two new cases were not of concern.
“I do need to see more testing,” she said.
In the past 24 hours, 8390 coronavirus tests had been carried out.
Queensland records one new mystery Covid-19 case
September 4: Queensland has recorded one new locally acquired mystery Covid-19 case after a string of new local cases were detected in northern New South Wales over the weekend.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles announced the single new local case – and two new overseas acquired cases detected in hotel quarantine – during a press conference at Brisbane on Monday morning.
The new local case, which has not yet been linked to cases previously announced, is a fully vaccinated Fitzgibbon woman aged in her 50s who was out in the Brisbane community for 10 days from September 23.
Contract tracing and genomic sequencing was underway to determine how the woman contracted Covid, where she went and who else may have been exposed.
Queensland Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said she was “reasonably reassured” by testing numbers.
“We do ask anyone who lives particularly in the northern part of Brisbane to come forward,” she said.
It comes as Victoria recorded 1377 new local cases and four deaths, while NSW recorded 623 new local cases and six deaths.
Dr Young warned Coast residents to seize on “a little window before we start seeing widespread community spread” of the virus to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
She said it would be tough for the unvaccinated to dodge infection once an outbreak hits.
“It will be very, very difficult once this virus starts circulating for people who aren’t vaccinated to escape getting infected,” she said.
“They are the people we know are going to be at risk of needing to go to hospital and potentially ICU.”
Dr Young said getting vaccinated would take pressure off hospitals “so that we can continue to treat everyone”.
Over the weekend, more than 10 new cases were recorded in northern NSW and most critically for the Gold Coast, three were in the Tweed, which shares a border with Coolangatta.
Meanwhile, Queensland plans to hold a coronavirus crisis meeting later this week involving emergency specialists, surgeons and doctors.
The Australian Medical Association has flagged the meeting as confusion continues about whether Queensland is ready to open up.
Doctors may have to choose between who lives or dies if the hospital system struggles to cope with an influx of patients.
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