Airlie Beach Covid: Pandemic won’t keep party town down

It’s the party town in the heart of the Whitsundays, and if cyclones can’t keep it down, there’s no chance a pandemic will quieten its main street.

Cyclones can’t keep it down and neither can Covid-19.

Airlie Beach has shrugged off restrictions and masks to see the end of 2021, relishing the freedoms of open borders and pubs.

Staff shortages have hit the kitchens in venues across the resort town, forcing many to close for the early afternoon, some traders saying it is to reset for New Year’s while others, with a shrug, simply said, “Covid.”

Businesses and restaurants on Main Street in Airlie Beach close kitchens because of staffing shortages and Covid directives. Picture: Rae Wilson

But it hasn’t deterred the throng of tourists piling in to the open venues on Airlie Beach’s main street.

The Whitsundays is understood to have the majority of positive Covid-19 cases across the wider Mackay Hospital and Health Service that on December 21 reached 259.

Friday figures of 74 new positive cases were not able to be broken down to local government areas.

Businesses and restaurants on Main Street in Airlie Beach close kitchens because of staffing shortages and Covid directives. Picture: Rae Wilson

Of the climbing positive cases across the MHHS, the majority are interstate visitors flying to the Whitsundays from regions where Covid is now considered normal.

Unlike most Queenslanders, those who have flown in from southern states have had Covid, know someone who has had Covid or expect they will get Covid at some point.

But with vaccination certificates in hand, they know contracting the virus is less unlikely to send them to hospital so they are prepared to take the risk.

Businesses and restaurants on Main Street in Airlie Beach close kitchens because of staffing shortages and Covid directives. Picture: Rae Wilson

There are few masks worn but instead on wrists, used only when needed inside, and there’s little regard for any social distancing.

In many ways, it is back to a pre-Covid lifestyle with barely any presence of the pandemic.

The Whitsundays - the heart of the Great Barrier Reef - is forging ahead and embracing the new normal.

Originally published as Airlie Beach Covid: Pandemic won’t keep party town down