Western Australia continues down the path of shutting the gate before its too late with another tightening of the borders:
Travel to Western Australia from every state will be restricted from midnight on Sunday, as Premier Mark McGowan again tightens the state’s border rules. Queensland will move to medium-risk status at that point, meaning only exempted travellers will be allowed to enter WA.
Tasmania will also move to low risk, forcing any arrivals into self-quarantine for two weeks.
Mr McGowan denied the move to tighten restrictions made him a “Grinch”, with the changes coming into effect less than a week before Christmas. “I’d much prefer to be in our position than the position they’re in in the other states,” he said. “We are, at this point, COVID-free.
“We can have a great Christmas with family and friends, our shops and retail and hospitality can all stay open, and we can have a summer holidays which are entirely normal.
“The thing I want to do is try and hold that until at least February 5. (when the borders open)”
The OMICRON variant is spreading fast but the QLD government is also trying in vain in stopping the spread with a new mask restriction, coming in to force tomorrow after 16 new community cases were detected:
Ms D’Ath said since the borders reopened on Monday, there had been 105,000 applications for people to enter the state from interstate hotspots. “With thousands and thousands of people moving around the state over Christmas to visit loved ones and to holiday, we know this virus could pop up anywhere,” she said.
Ms D’Ath said because the virus was being detected in the community, masks would become mandatory in shops, hospitals, aged care, public transport and ride share vehicles across Queensland from 1:00am tomorrow.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the statewide mandate this morning but stopped short of extending it to cover workplaces, bars and clubs.
She said because bars, clubs and hospitality venues became open to only vaccinated patrons from today, she did not need to extend the mandate there.
Luckily for Queenslanders, lockdowns have been ruled out as Christmas looms, although its a good excuse for us introverts not to have to go outside and talk to people – including having family around!