Gold Coast concern as latest Covid case spent six days in community
Queensland has recorded three new COVID-19 cases that were infectious in the community on the Gold Coast, in the southern town of Warwick and on a flight from Melbourne.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the new cases emerged after 10,870 tests in the 24 hours to 6.30am on Wednesday.
One is a Gold Coaster who lives at Pacific Pines, has had one vaccine dose and has been infectious in the community for up to six days.
“We do not know at this stage where the case from the Gold Coast has come from, so we need to make sure there are no other cases on the Gold Coast,” Palaszczuk told reporters on Wednesday.
“So now I’m saying to Gold Coast residents and families: if you are not vaccinated, go and get vaccinated. If you have any symptoms, please go and get tested.”
Another case is a person southern town of Warwick, who is linked to the outbreak in the NSW border town of Goondiwindi, and has been infectious in the community for up to 10 days.
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The person recently travelled to a funeral in Moree, which triggered an outbreak in the town.
The premier said it is unlikely restrictions will be tightened on the Gold Coast or Warwick due to the level of vaccine coverage in those regions.
“We’re quite comfortable at the moment because the vaccination rates are higher than they were you know two or three months ago, but you know it’s a ‘wait and see’ here,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“But it is a wake up call for people in Warwick, for people on the Gold Coast, to go and get vaccinated. Time is running out.”
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A third person, who arrived on a flight from Melbourne, has also tested positive in hotel quarantine.
Palaszczuk also confirmed mask mandates will end on Thursday morning when the 80 per cent of eligible people will have had once vaccine dose.
The state government announced on Tuesday that unvaccinated people will be excluded from all Queensland venues once the 80 per cent of eligible people in the state have been fully vaccinated.
The premier said the “small cohort of people” who are against vaccines due to religious reasons or misinformation online should talk to their GP or a nurse about the jab.
“Unfortunately in some cases, and in some communities, there has been misinformation spreading around on Facebook,” she said.
“I understand that people have concerns and the best way that you can talk about these concerns is to go and sit down with your family GP, your family GP or a nurse, just to talk about these issues because a lot of time when people sit down and talk about these issues, they understand what’s at risk.”
Queensland will scrap quarantine for fully-vaccinated domestic travellers who test negative when the state hits the 80 per cent double dose target, or December 17 at the latest.
Palaszczuk said there are no plans to lockdown only unvaccinated people in the event of future outbreaks, but regions with low vaccination rates could face lockdowns.
