QLD NSW border: Residents warned everyone may be blocked

Just three days after the announcement of a ‘bubble’ Queensland’s Chief Health Officer has issued a stern warning to border residents to make contingency plans for a dramatic ‘next step’.

THE STATE’S Chief Health Officer has given a stern warning to border communities that the worst could be yet to come.

Dr Jeannette Young said while the ‘bubble’ program is currently in place, those who have to cross the border daily should be ready for more disruption as the risk of COVID-19 spread in the area remains high.

“At the border, this is the really difficult part for Queensland,” Dr Young said.

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“The border is difficult because people from New South Wales can travel into those NSW border areas and they can then pass on the infection to people who can then cross the border into Queensland.

“That is really difficult.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young. Picture: Attila Csaszar.

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“So it is really important all those people who live along our border think what is the next step.

“If we had to close the border to everyone in NSW, no exemptions for people in those border zones who work or go to school in Queensland. If we have to close, then what will people do?”

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Dr Young said she is aware of some families who have swapped homes to be either side of the border close to work, and encouraged others to make contingency plans should the border have to tighten further.

“I think every single person who lives in any of those border communities in either Queensland or NSW needs to think what will I do, what will my family do if the border closes because there are cases spreading north from Sydney,” she said.