‘Something special' needed to avoid lockdown extension

Southeast Queensland’s eight-day lockdown will be extended past Sunday if people “don’t do something really, really, really special” to dampen down the virus. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Southeast Queensland’s lockdown will be extended past Sunday if people “don’t do something really, really, really special” to dampen down the virus, the state’s chief health officer says.

As 16 new locally acquired cases connected to the growing Indooroopilly Delta cluster and one unlinked case in Cairns were revealed, Dr Jeannette Young implored people to stop trying to poke holes in her stay-at-home orders and use common sense when deciding whether to walk out their front door.

Locked-down residents were told to stop buying unnecessary items like sun lounges and even discouraged from online shopping as Dr Young conceded there were “gaps” in the health directions that meant some discretionary shopping was technically allowed.

But she said southeast Queenslanders held their own future in their hands now and should exercise personal responsibility if they wanted freedom faster.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

“Please everyone, just think what you could do to just stay at home for the next few days until Sunday because it‘d be really good if we could lift it,” she said.

“That’s a big challenge though, when I look at other states and how long it’s taken before they could lift their restrictions.

“If we don’t do something really, really, really special in Queensland, we’ll be extending the lockdown.”

She said people should stop trying to find loopholes to go out, and should instead think about how they would feel if their actions brought home the virus, or caused the lockdown to continue.

“Instead of reading a direction and working out what they might be able to do under that direction, instead, when you open your front door, could you please think – do I really need to go outside my front door today?” she said.

“Maybe just stay home because you can only move this virus around, if the person moves around.”

A case in Cairns was revealed to have the Delta strain but is not linked to the southeast’s cluster, with 500 of his close contacts being tested.

A further two cases were acquired overseas and detected in hotel quarantine.

There are now 63 genomically linked cases in the growing Indooroopilly cluster, with the state government warning the current swell was the largest since the height of the pandemic in March and April last year when upwards of 80 cases were recorded on some days.

A council worker walks across an empty square in Queens Street Mall in central Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

More than 11,395 people are subject to quarantine orders as a result of the current clusters and people from overseas in hotel quarantine. More than 5800 are due to the “Indooroopilly” cluster. Viral fragments of the virus have been detected in sewage in north and south Brisbane, as well as north and south Cairns.

Late yesterday it emerged additional Brisbane Grammar School families had been ordered into quarantine after an infectious person linked to the school was on campus for an entire week. And another student tested positive to the virus, taking the private boys’ school cluster to nine.

Ambrose Treacy College in Indooroopilly joined the swag of elite private schools and high-profile state schools embroiled in the Delta strain cluster.

Parents have been informed that students and family members involved in debating on Wednesday July 28 at nearby St Peter’s Lutheran College are now considered “close contacts”.

In an official message to parents and caregivers, Damian Steele, director of co-curricular activities at the all boys’ Catholic school, said students and their families needed to be tested immediately then quarantine for 14 days from Thursday July 29.

A health worker attempts to swab an unhappy toddler at a pop up Covid-19 testing clinic in Toowong. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

St Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace has also been embroiled in the cluster. The school wrote to parents late Wednesday advising that students in the 12D rugby team, who played in a July 31 game at Anglican Church Grammar School against Brisbane Grammar School’s 12Bs, which had a student now Covid positive, are considered close contacts. Their families are also considered close contacts and have been advised to get tested immediately and quarantine until August 14. The infected BGS student then watched the 14Bs rugby game between Terrace and Grammar, requiring students who played in that game and their families to also get tested and quarantine.

Exposure sites also ballooned, with Stafford City Shopping Centre announcing a customer who was unknowingly infectious with the virus visited the centre on Saturday.

It came as authorities signalled they were moving to a “hospital at home” approach with daily management of Covid patients in their homes, like is done in other states with high case numbers.

Meanwhile, the government congratulated Queenslanders for smashing the state’s testing record with a mammoth 51,479 tests reported on Wednesday morning.

This was a huge increase from the previous record of 35,357.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said there were “early signs” the lockdown was working, with two of Wednesday’s cases having spent their entire infectious period at home.

“Meaning that there’s no risk that they have infected other people not in quarantine, and that’s ultimately what this lockdown is about, getting to the point where we are confident that nobody who is confirmed as positive could have infected others who are not in quarantine,” he said.

Dr Young earlier this week revealed that for the lockdown to be lifted, new Covid-19 cases must have spent their infectious periods in quarantine.

She said she was getting more confident that there weren’t other chains of transmission because of the high levels of testing.

But she urged people to reconsider online shopping, unless for essential goods, to minimise the number of people in the community delivering packages.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said it was up to Queenslanders as to whether the lockdown was extended.

“As Dr Young says, don‘t worry about what the directives and the law says – do you want to go out and risk getting the virus and bringing it back to your household and risk an extension of the lockdown?” she said.

Mr Miles warned now was not the time to buy outdoor furniture.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

“There will be time before summer to get sun lounges,” he said.

The Deputy Premier said the onus was on the individual to have a reason as to why they were leaving home.

“We are still seeing some people going out to shop or to browse for non-essential reasons and while there is an exemption to allow people to leave their homes to get essential groceries and medicines, that does not extend to other discretionary items,” he said.

“We hope that this is just five more days, but every time someone leaves their home, they increase the risk that this lockdown may need to go on longer.”

While saying the large amount of testing was “very reassuring”, Dr Young encouraged people to keep coming forward.

- Additional reporting Stephanie Bennett and Vanessa Marsh

Originally published as ‘Something special' needed to avoid lockdown extension