Airport workers keep Covid cool
BARISTAS working at Cairns Airport say they are not panicking about contracting Covid-19, despite the airport and a Far North flight being added to Queensland Health’s official list of exposure sites.
Employees who were working in the domestic terminal’s luggage collection area on Friday night must now quarantine and get tested for the virus, as well as complete a contact-tracing form, after an infected Mareeba woman arrived on flight VA791 from Brisbane.
Akiko Tanabe from Hudson’s Coffee said workers at the airport hadn’t been overly worried about contracting Covid because there had been few cases in the Far North.
The Cairns region has had only 67 of the state’s total 1761 cases, but two active cases were confirmed on Tuesday after the young Mareeba woman who returned home after studying in Victoria tested positive, along with a private jet passenger arriving in Cairns. Authorities say it is likely both have the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus.
“I don’t think anyone here has been overly concerned about Covid, because you know, Cairns has only had a few cases,” Ms Tanabe said.
“But the news about the lady from Mareeba made me think I have to get a vaccination ASAP because I haven’t even had the first jab.”
A Cairns Airport spokesman said “robust cleaning” at the airport was key.
“We are working closely and assisting Queensland Health regarding the latest advice,” he said.
“We continue to enforce robust cleaning of the highest standards across all areas of the airport,” he said.
Face masks remain mandatory in all areas of Queensland airports and on domestic commercial flights.
The 20-year-old Mareeba student flew into Cairns on Friday after a holiday on the Sunshine Coast after leaving Melbourne.
Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young outlined her movements and urged anyone who had visited the locations to get tested immediately.
Holiday-makers Tina Spooner and Eddie Ellem were keen to get home safely to Newcastle.
“We are more and more concerned – we are from Newcastle, which seems to be all right, but we are flying to Brisbane, then going by road and it is a concern, the number of cases is starting to build up a bit,” Mrs Spooner said.
Mr Ellem said the couple was worried lockdowns or travel restrictions could impede them.
“We just want to get out, we want to go home,” he said.
Queensland Health has declared all of Victoria and parts of NSW hotspots and all of South Australia will be added from 1am Thursday.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service Covid-19 vaccination program executive director Dr Don Mackie admitted he had “concern” about further cases in the region.