Coronavirus testing has been ramped up across south-east Queensland after Sydney's Northern Beaches was declared a coronavirus hotspot, with "devastated" families having Christmas plans disrupted at the last minute.
Key points:
- Ms Palaszczuk has declared Sydney's Northern Beaches a coronavirus hotspot
- The Glen Hotel says it is working with Queensland Health to work out when it could reopen
- Christmas plans for many families are disrupted at the last minute as a result of the hotspot declaration
Yesterday it was announced that a COVID-19-positive woman aged in her 50s had travelled to Queensland's Sunshine Coast from Sydney's Northern Beaches.
The woman had flown into the state on Virgin flight VA925 on December 16.
On Friday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the case was connected to the Sydney Northern Beaches cluster.
Ms Palaszczuk subsequently declared Sydney's Northern Beaches a coronavirus hotspot
From 1:00am on Saturday, December 19, anyone who arrives from Sydney's Northern Beaches will be required to undertake two weeks of mandatory hotel quarantine at their own expense.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the woman hired a car and then had lunch at the Glen Hotel at Eight Mile Plains before driving up to the Sunshine Coast on December 16.
The woman was tested for coronavirus at Brisbane's Prince Charles Hospital in Chermside before she drove back via car to Sydney.
Her test results came back positive on Thursday night.
A current list of contact tracing locations in Queensland is available online.
Ms Palaszczuk also said testing would be ramped up in Eight Mile Plains in Brisbane's southern suburbs.
In a statement on its Facebook page, a spokesman for the Glen Hotel at Eight Mile Plains wrote it was working with Queensland Health to determine when it would be able to reopen for patrons.
On Friday, the hotel was closed for deep cleaning.
"We have maintained a comprehensive list of attendees at our hotel, enabling Queensland Health to make quick identification of those who may need to speak with for further advice," the statement read.
It is understood members of the management team were working with Queensland Health to ensure that all staff who needed to quarantine would quarantine immediately.
'Are we over-reacting?'
On Thursday, 28-year-old Michelle Watson and her partner Robert made a last-minute decision to come to Brisbane for their holidays earlier than planned.
Ms Watson said she was booked to fly into Queensland on Christmas Eve and her partner to join her on New Year's Day but, as the cases rose, the couple started looking for early flights and eventually booked an early-morning Friday flight.
"It did feel a bit radical uprooting your life like that — and we had a lot of plans for the next week — so I was wondering 'are we over-reacting?'" Ms Watson said.
"But it is so difficult to tell. Government responses have all been so different."
She said she was worried the Queensland-New South Wales border could potentially close.
'Absolutely heartbroken'
Peta Johnson's 74-year-old father Bruce Johnson was planning to come up to Cardwell in Far North Queensland to visit his daughter and two granddaughters on January 5
But because he lives in Davidson on the southern end of Sydney's Northern Beaches, he has had to reschedule his trip until February.
Ms Johnson said it has been an especially hard time for the family after her 73-year-old mum Anne died of a stroke in October this year.
She said her parents were married for 51 years and her father now feels especially isolated in Sydney.
"He is absolutely heartbroken because he wants to have some time with us and have a break from Sydney and everything that has been going on," she said.
"He is not coping with having to clean out mum's stuff and ordering the plaque for the grave and it is all too much and I just can't be there because I would be stuck in the same position and separated from my youngest child."
She said she felt there had "to be a way around quarantine".
"I understand they have to do what they have to do with quarantining, but you are talking about 5 million people in Sydney and 28 [cases]," she said.
"Why not make people have a COVID test before they get on aircraft and make them quarantine at home for a few days before they leave?"
She said she was concerned there would be more cases over the next few weeks that could further delay his visits.
Ms Johnson travelled down to Sydney in October to see her mother before she died, but had to quarantine in Cairns when she returned.
Family 'devastated' as Christmas plans disrupted
Queensland resident and mother-of-two Jess Oski, from Currumbin Waters on the Gold Coast, had her family's Christmas plans disrupted at the last minute as a result of the hotspot declaration.
She planned to spend the festive season with her family, who she had not seen in months, at Sydney's Northern Beaches.
"When they announced the borders were opening to Greater Sydney, we got very excited and we booked to go down for two weeks," she said.
"It was a combination of things that we were looking forward to — to get out of the house for a couple of weeks, to go somewhere a bit different, and to be around family who we haven't seen for a long time.
"My husband in particular is quite devastated — he hasn't seen his father in nearly a year."
Ms Oski had baby son Noah in February, with many of her Sydney family yet to meet the child.
Grace Clarke was visiting her family in the Northern Beaches but had to cut her trip short and book two new flights to get back to avoid hotel quarantine.
"I was supposed to fly back Saturday night but I pushed it back to earlier this morning just to make sure I could get home — lucky I did," Ms Clarke said.
"My original flight was supposed to be direct … but everything was sold out — I got the very last flights that I could.
Ms Clarke said she became worried about the increase in cases numbers where she was staying.
"It is quite a close-knit community so I was obviously concerned about the risk of contracting the virus," she said.
"I was sort of holding off on whether I should come home early … but as soon as I saw it jump that much, I thought it's best to just be safe."
Ms Clarke said she was not looking forward to spending the holiday period "trapped behind four walls" but was understanding of the health directive.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTEyLTE5L2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXF1ZWVuc2xhbmQtdGVzdGluZy1mYW1pbGllcy1zZXBhcmF0ZWQtY2hyaXN0bWFzLzEyODk2MzI00gEnaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEyODk2MzI0?oc=5
2020-12-18 22:09:00Z
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