Covid-19 Gold Coast: Exposure sites, new case, updates on restrictions
Gold Coast tourism bosses say there are no silver bullets for solving the “economic lockdown” crippling the city as Sydney’s Covid lockdown is set to drag out for months. THE BUSINESSES AFFECTED >>>`
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THE Gold Coast Airport is ready to ramp up its flight schedule now Victoria and South Australia have emerged from lockdown.
All they need now is the green light from the state government.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said a decision would be made once health officials had been able to review the state of ongoing restrictions within both Melbourne and Sydney.
Airport boss Chris Mills said the end of the southern lockdowns was “as good a news as we could have hoped for”.
“We expect the airlines will move quickly to schedule services while we have been planning and working towards this so we will be ready as soon as we get the go-ahead,” he said.
“Based on previous border openings, the interest from Victoria was really strong, though what we do not know is how much people will be hesitating to travel given they have had to drop their plans previously.”
While Victoria and South Australia are both reopening, Sydney’s lockdown is expected to be extended yet again on Wednesday after it recorded 172 new Covid cases.
At least 60 of the new cases were not isolating for their entire infectious period. There are currently 169 people in hospital battling the virus with 46 in the ICU and 19 on ventilation.
But with the threat of the Delta strain to the Gold Coast still high, tourism leaders fear the travel industry will face a prolonged crisis of confidence.
Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan said the “economic lockdown” afflicting the city’s biggest industry would cast a long shadow, with events planned as far away as Christmas already being cancelled.
“Our tourism operators are feeling the carnage and we cannot sugar-coat this, we are in a really tough spot right now,” she said.
“There is no silver bullet but we are looking cautiously at the decisions being made by our leader and we are taking each announcement as it comes.
“It will be critical for any initiative to lead to confidence leading up to September but right now we have operators with nobody in their businesses so they are trying to get through the next day let alone the next holidays.”
It was revealed major operators are laying off staff or cutting back hours because of the decline in vision.
Hotel occupancy sits at less than 30 per cent while Gold Coast Airport is seeing just 10-15 flights per day.
Ms O’Callaghan said the city’s business events market was also hurting.
“They are seeing cancellations and inquiries heading out to the new year now,” she said.
“The Victorian market is so critical and it will really help because they love travelling to the Gold Coast.”
‘Catastrophic’ impact of Covid on Coast workers
GOLD Coast’s biggest employers are putting off staff and cutting shifts in a “catastrophic” Covid-inflicted downturn.
Top business figures say for tourism, retail and hospitality casuals and full-timers it is worse than the earliest days of the pandemic in March, 2020 as companies large and small struggle to survive without visitors or Federal financial help.
With Sydney, the Gold Coast’s biggest tourist market, to be locked until at least mid-September, all eyes are now on Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews who on Tuesday announces if his state’s lockdown will lift on Wednesday.
LIST: GOLD COAST LOCATIONS NAMED AS Covid EXPOSURE SITES
National Retail Association CEO Dominique Lamb said ripple effects of both lockdowns were hammering the Coast and its 100,000-plus casuals and part-timers.
“The longer those lockdowns go, it makes consumers very reluctant to travel or spend, so it is not surprising to hear from our members the Gold Coast is experiencing an incredibly quiet time,” she said.
“Levels of despair are even worse than March last year. What it comes down is NSW is our biggest consumer group.
“The stimulus in the economy last year is gone and, given we are not one of the lockdown locations, it means there is no assistance. It is unfortunate our federal government has failed to fully recognise flow-on effects this has had on the community.”
The Gold Coast was one of the major recipients of federal assistance in 2020, with 27,545 businesses signing for JobKeeper in its first month, with 49,200 of the state’s 259,000 recipients were from the city. But with borders closed and tourism at a trickle, Coast leaders say it is an “economic lockdown” and have mounted a call for federal aid for locked down cities to apply to the Coast.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Monday ruled out a return of JobKeeper and insisted the new system was more appropriate – casting a “wider net” to include casual workers and allowing for greater flexibility.
Sea World on Monday wound back opening hours, while Village Roadshow theme parks chief operating officer Bikash Randhawa said staff were encouraged to take holidays with fewer patrons.
“This is one of the most difficult working environments in my 30-plus years. We’re still open but it is so patchy and we’re having to watch every penny.”
With Gold Coast Airport traffic falling to 10 per cent of pre-Covid levels there have been an average of 10-15 flights in and out of Coolangatta daily for the past week.
Airport boss Chris Mills said while no staff were stood down, the lifting of Victoria’s lockdown was critical to any kind of economic recovery.
“That would be great because it is one of our stronger markets and while we do not know what traveller confidence is going to look like, we are hoping to see a quick return of activity,” he said.
“Last year we had to make the hard decision to cut 30 per cent of our workforce. While we have a leaner team now not all (airport shops) are open. We’re looking at everything day to day.”
pleaded with state and federal governments to help the Gold Coast, warning many small firms would not recover from the “economic lockdown” limbo.
“This latest Covid threat to our city has really rocked business confidence and we are seeing our biggest employers shortening opening hours, smaller cafes and bars are cutting staff and the airport is a ghost town,” he said. “Small businesses can only take so much. The flow-on effect of them closing for good is truly devastating while many family-run businesses have their own house mortgaged against the business.’’
“I strongly urge the state government, like other states, to provide support packages for our impacted businesses while the federal government must also look towards what support it can give.”
Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan said many tourism operators were standing down staff
“These are challenging times and our tourism industry have had to continue making difficult decisions to ensure their survival,” she said. “It is also a sign we are a long way from recovery and the need for Government support to help us through is critical.
“Our industry is continually adapting their business models to get through an extremely extraordinary situation and it’s important we continue to support them in any way we can.”
New mystery Coast case, massive lines at testing centres
FEARS of a lockdown across the south east are growing as health authorities continue to identify Covid-19 exposure sites across the Gold Coast.
It comes as hundreds of cars are backed up along Parkwood’s Olsen Ave as Gold Coasters turn out in droves for a Covid test after more than 30 exposure sites across the city were listed overnight.
The list includes multiple times and dates for Goodstart Early Learning Centre in Parkwood on the Gold Coast from July 13 to 23, as well as major shopping centres including Helensvale Westfield, Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, Q Super Centre and Harbour Town Shopping Centre.
Queues at Gold Coast University Hospital’s Covid testing clinic were growing on Monday morning, with traffic also building at QML’s drive-through testing site at the Australian Outback Spectacular car park.
On Monday morning, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath announced one new community Covid-19 case involving a Gold Coast man aged in his 40s who travelled from China.
Concerningly, Ms D’Ath said the man completed quarantine and tested negative on his exit, but later tested positive.
Dr Sonu Haikerwal, of the Upper Coomera Respiratory Clinic, said it felt a bit like “de ja vu” with residents on heightened alert following a list of exposure sites from Mermaid Waters to Helensvale and Bundall to Biggera Waters.
“It will be a miracle if we don’t get a positive case, but it’s happened before, whether it’s our good weather or good luck,” she said.
As for the chances of a lockdown, Dr Haikerwal said the Gold Coast was placed into a five-day lockdown recently with a lot less Gold Coast exposure sites listed.
“If we go by what happened last time then we will likely go into lockdown as there’s a lot more exposure sites now.
“But it’s all based on modelling, it’s not a black or white decision.
“We just have to make sure everyone gets tested and everyone is complying with the mask mandate and staying home if they’re sick.”
chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said she was not sure if the latest case identified on the Gold Coast picked up the virus here, in hotel quarantine or in China. Genomic testing was underway.
“I’m not sure of the acquisition of this case, it could have been in China, it could have been in quarantine or it could have been in the community down in the Gold Coast,” Dr Young said.
“Please keep coming forward (for testing), any symptoms at all, anywhere in Queensland.”
The fully vaccinated man and his family became unwell on July 13, a day after leaving quarantine, and testing came back on Sunday, July 25.
“We’ve already spoken to him, worked out where he’s been and put the exposure sites up on our website.”
She urged the public to check the southeast Queensland exposure sites and to get tested and quarantine if they visited the locations.
The new case likely presents a low risk to the community, Dr Young advised.
“It should be low risk, but look, we don’t know,” she said.
“He’s fully vaccinated and we still don’t fully understand what that means in terms of the time it takes to become infectious and what it does about the viral load.
“So there’s so many unknowns here, so we’re taking a very cautious approach of course, as we always do, and asking anyone who’s been to those sites to talk to us so we can contact them.”
Ms D’Ath said there was 26 active cases and a total 1770 cases had been reported in Queensland since the start of the pandemic.
In the last 24 hours, there was 10,811 tests and 3492 vaccinations. Ms D’Ath said 2134 people were in home quarantine.
It comes after a flight attendant who entered the Gold Coast and tested positive to Covid’s highly infectious Delta variant picked up a man in Ballina who had travelled illegally from Sydney.
The city’s economy is already struggling after the border closed last week, along with the southern states being in lockdown.
The Coast’s disaster management unit has been activated over fears of a community outbreak.
Mayor Tom Tate said he was “deeply concerned” about the potential for community spread.
“One thing about Covid that we’ve learned, things move so quickly and I say go back to basics, have a mask on you at all times,” Cr Tate said.
Cr Tate said he would welcome further restrictions if it was deemed necessary by Dr Young.
“I am guided by the chief health officers so safety is first and if that means harsher restrictions in the short term, then we just need to knuckle down and deal with it,” he said.
Regarding the man breaking Sydney’s lockdown to fly to Ballina, the Mayor said: “Frustration is a very kind word for this kind of behaviour.
“It’s a selfish behaviour and for me, how can someone be that selfish in a pandemic is beyond logic.
“I leave it to the police to deal out the harshest punishment available to them.”
Sea World has returned to its pandemic-induced reduced operating hours, effective today.
The Village Roadshow theme park, which had been open from 9.30am to 5pm seven days, will now close at 3.30pm on weekdays.
The move follows the closure of Queensland’s border with NSW last week and revelations a Covid-infected flight attendant visited Ardent Leisure’s Dreamworld the week before.
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