In Mayor’s Plea to Premier, NT 7 December, Cr Stewart drew attention to the limited testing availability in the shire. including the lack of RATs, the paucity of reliable local data on the new cases, the reduced case management of new cases. and the abandonment of contact tracing. The Mayor also made a heartfelt plea to ensure that the elderly and the young be given proper consideration. They say a week is a long time in politics. Well, a week on from when this letter was written, with the new virus strain, is a very long time.
Queensland did so well for so long with Covid suppression, most agree. Nine deaths in nearly two years is an almost unparalleled achievement. What we’re seeing now was due one day, and I can’t find a major country in the world that isn’t dealing with a crisis in its health system. When the Premier announced we would open to double vaccinated interstate visitors on 13 December, after attaining 80 per cent double vaccination rates, and in time for Christmas and the traditional holidays that see southern visitors flock to the state, many here felt a sense of unease. The Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) chief executive officer Daniel Gschwind said “the state is looking forward to welcoming many interstate travellers when the border reopens” and told Sky News the industry was “very pleased“ the Palaszczuk government has “stuck with the roadmap“.
“We can’t wait, it’s not coming a day too soon,“ he said. Local Tourism Noosa (TN) chief executive officer Melanie Anderson wrote to members preparing them for the new rules to apply once border opened. In fact, even though the vaccine mandate for non-essential businesses was to begin on 17 December, TN informed members, although the borders will reopen to interstate hotspots on Monday 13 December, “All businesses can continue serving unvaccinated customers and guests until 17 December”.
By 24 December, TN had formed had formed an action group, along with Noosa Council, and Noosa Business Associations, to manage the effects of the recent outbreak in Noosa. Resident groups were left out of discussions, unfortunately. TN briefed the Tourism Department, QTIC and the Chief Health Officer on the impacts of the protocols to business and the urgent need for policy changes.
While Queenslanders were fortunate that we were opening up to a virus with a better reputation than Delta, its rapid transmission was laying workers low. On 22 December, TN put a plea to government: “Noosa faces the busiest time of the year. Tourism Noosa is pleading with the Queensland Government to drop the seven-day quarantine requirements for close contacts”.
By 7 January, Mr Gschwind said, “businesses had been facing chronic staff shortages, with many workers forced into isolation because they were deemed a close contact or test positive. As a result, businesses have had to reduce their opening hours or shut down entirely due to the lack of staff”. Local restaurants were struggling to remain open at the usual hours, and busy places, such as the Noosa Surf Club in Hastings St, reduced their operating hours.
Many restaurants ignored reporting protocols altogether and remained open despite staff members reporting in with Covid. Once this circulated on Noosa social media, many locals vowed to stay away from restaurants while the crowds of interstate visitors were in town. Noosa Today reported Noosa Surf Club board member Warwick Redwood noted this impact on Noosa’s increasing infection rate had been felt at the club by the absence of locals.
“I’ve volunteered to work on the door”, he said, and “I’ve only talked to two locals in a 15-hour period. Locals are lying low.”
In Noosa, right now, we have a surreal situation as the pandemic marches into town with visitors who would well have been advised to stay home. Health protocols are being blatantly ignored and both state and local governments have given up on compliance for measures, such as the check-in app and masking, that could have protected staff and residents from unnecessary infections. If anyone has been able to get near Hastings Street, you’d see scenes that defy logic, such as a dearth of masks, lack of check-in compliance, and knots of visitors ignoring social distancing recommendations.
Not many realised the implications of opening up just as a new strain, Omricron, was coming into the country with travellers from affected nations. While not as deadly as the previous two strains, it was not as easy to hold in check as the Delta strain because of its extreme virulence.
Unfortunately, Noosa is in the same boat as all Queensland municipalities and I don’t see how the state can help one without helping all the others. Bad decisions on a state and federal level are impacting us all.
But local government has a role to play and the Covid roundtable is devoid of representatives from resident groups. We hear so much about businesses being impacted and, like Cr Stewart, we know so many people, personally, and in the community, who are vulnerable and feel helpless. Communication at a local level is currently primarily through social media.
It’s time for Council to be more proactive.
