The Queensland border bubble has been extended to allow boarding school students to return home, as the state records no new cases.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Friday added Moree to the list of postcodes Queensland border residents can freely travel to, saying she wanted students to be allowed to return home for school holidays.
It also comes after the mayor of Moree slammed Ms Palaszczuk as “cruel and heartless” after Mungindi’s single supermarket was destroyed.
As a result, if residents wanted to travel to their closest supermarket in Moree, they would have to quarantine for 14 days, prohibiting them from accessing medical care in Queensland.
“We hope this will be great news for families to ensure their boarding school students can be home for school holidays,” she said.
The state’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, said she had no concerns about potential spread from Moree.
“I am very confident Moree is a safe place to add into our border zone,” she said.
“For a number of reasons we have made this decision … but the most important reason of all is that it’s safe for us to do that.
“This could change, but at this point in time NSW has control of their outbreak, but the risk is the virus can travel to other parts.”
It comes as a specialist unit becomes operational today, designed to assist northern NSW families navigate border measures to access urgent and emergency medical care.
“We want to make sure if people in northern NSW need specialist appointments, we have a dedicated unit that will be there for them,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“We have a team of 80 people working on exemptions … we are working in the best interest of families.”
Dr Young said in the past week, 900 residents northern NSW residents had been treated in Queensland hospitals.
“We are continuing to provide essential and emergency healthcare to people who live in northern NSW, we have always done that and that has not changed,” she said.
It comes as Ms Palaszczuk is set to come under fire at today’s National Cabinet over border measures that allowed 400 AFL contingents to lap up luxury while medical and compassionate exemptions are denied.
Dr Young’s strict border measures, enforced by Ms Palaszczuk, are set to be targeted at today’s National Cabinet meeting, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison expected to announce a new hotspot traffic light system that would guide states on who to allow in.
Mr Morrison has previously called for more compassion and consistency over border measures, and has told states borders need to be open by Christmas so “families can be reunited”.
Ms Palaszczuk has repeatedly reaffirmed she had ultimate say in what happened at the borders, and that her main priority was “keeping Queenslanders safe”.
A visibly teary premier on Friday said she refused to be intimidated, and that her ultimate responsibility was keeping Queenslanders safe.
“I get up every day and I rely on the best health advice to look after this state,” she said.
“I think it’s a bit disingenuous for this heightened criticism coming from a whole lot of levels when my fundamental concern is to look after Queenslanders.
“There is a high risk when there is an outbreak of it going into aged care homes... I do not want to see what happened in NSW and Victoria to happen here.”
Dr Young said the trigger for Queensland to re-open its borders with NSW would not be pulled until the state had had no community transmission of COVID-19 for 28 days.
“The one standard my team work to is to keep Queenslanders safe,” she said.
Yesterday the state recorded two new cases, including one who worked at an aged care home, an hour southwest of Brisbane, for two days.
Dr Young said the risk to residents was very low because the staff member did not have contact with residents at Karinya Place at Laidley.
The two new cases are known to each other and have been linked to the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre/Queensland Correction Services Academy cluster, which has grown to 30 people.
This week, Ms Palaszczuk said she felt “very comfortable” with the containment of the current cluster.
A new COVID-19 pop-up fever clinic has been set up at the popular tourist location Airlie Beach, after viral fragments of COVID-19 were found in sewage.
Dr Young said there was no cause for alarm, but told anyone with any symptoms to go and get tested.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMivgFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS90cmF2ZWwvdHJhdmVsLXVwZGF0ZXMvaGVhbHRoLXNhZmV0eS9xbGQtcHJlbWllci1zZXQtdG8tY29tZS11bmRlci1maXJlLWF0LW5hdGlvbmFsLWNhYmluZXQtb3Zlci1kb3VibGUtc3RhbmRhcmQtYXQtYm9yZGVycy9uZXdzLXN0b3J5Lzg5OTZlYjJhMWJjODRlNDAyZWM0MTVlNWM4YTE5Yzk10gG-AWh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLm5ld3MuY29tLmF1L3RyYXZlbC90cmF2ZWwtdXBkYXRlcy9oZWFsdGgtc2FmZXR5L3FsZC1wcmVtaWVyLXNldC10by1jb21lLXVuZGVyLWZpcmUtYXQtbmF0aW9uYWwtY2FiaW5ldC1vdmVyLWRvdWJsZS1zdGFuZGFyZC1hdC1ib3JkZXJzL25ld3Mtc3RvcnkvODk5NmViMmExYmM4NGU0MDJlYzQxNWU1YzhhMTljOTU?oc=5
2020-09-03 23:37:30Z
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