YOUR VIEWS
WE acknowledge the incredible efforts of your readers who are staying at home and helping to save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we all do our bit to prevent the spread of the virus, it can be easy to lose the connections that can give us meaning and make us feel part of a community. We know the one thing many of us are missing right now is human contact. For those who are living alone or who are in isolation this becomes more acute.
Red Cross is now offering a free national telephone service to fill some of that void and help people maintain or improve their level of social connection. COVID CONNECT allows regular access to a friendly voice, a listening ear and tips to improve social connection.
Red Cross volunteers are making these social phone calls to people wherever they are during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping reduce the stress of isolation.
If you or someone you know would like to start receiving these calls please register at https://connect.redcross.org.au/covid-connect/ or by ringing 1800 733 276. We’re looking forward to chatting with you!
GARRY PAGE, DIRECTOR, QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS
I ATTEMPTED to be a “good citizen” the other day and downloaded the COVID-Safe application on to my mobile phone. When directed to the Google store the app wasn’t there. I then used a direct link and when I tried to download, a text box appeared which said that the application could only be used on phones with Android Version 6 or
higher. I checked my phone data and found that it was only Android version 4.2.
I contacted the relevant department and was told that it was not cost effective to have multiple versions which were still secure. So, I am lucky enough to miss out on any inherent problems which may turn up with this application? It’s certainly a relief to know “Big Brother” is not interested in me – alive OR dead apparently.
ED DONOVAN, GOLD COAST
THERE is a great opportunity coming post lockdown for an enterprising tourism operator. Organise a Gold Coast holiday that will appeal to the ex-cruise ship market! All they need is a comfortable bed, 3 meals a day and a halfday coach tour each day. Throw a few bingo games and a couple of evening entertainments into the package and we have a win-win holiday solution for the next couple of years at least. It could even become the new fashion!
It’s what Gold Coast was famous for in the 60s and 70s before we let the cruise ships get under our guard. Our accommodation houses and restaurants will jump at the chance to cater for this vast new 60+ Baby Boomer market that has been neglected here for far too long. And we offer a lot more space than cruise passengers can dream about in their tiny cabins … err …’staterooms’ with miniature showers and uncomfortable furniture.
They have the money and the time, and we have plenty of attractions compared with cruise ports in the Pacific, most of which are extremely
limited. This needs to be sold as a single package so they don’t have to think about what to do next and how to get there. The coach director will do all that for them and allow them some free time to cruise the local shops with discount vouchers.
They like being organised, so let’s do it for them in a big way!
ALAN MIDWOOD, GOLD COAST
WHILE to many the news of the easing of restrictions signals the return of happy times and the opportunity to do as they wish, the news from overseas is less comforting with second waves of the virus appearing in many countries not long after their restrictions were eased.
Our death toll has been low in comparison to many of those countries and the focus has been on the deaths of the elderly who are the most vulnerable, however we know little of the ages of those who have contracted the virus and their ages.
The younger generation as usual believe they are indestructible and even if they get the virus they will recover just as they do when the flu is about, we are already seeing the resurgence of the protest groups in our major cities, flouting the social distancing laws that have helped us keep the infection rates down.
This activity without any thought other than their own selfish ignorance of others poses a serious question we all must consider.
We all remember that when flu season hits we have the first wave then a lull and then a second, more destructive wave and it’s the second wave that costs the most lives. What would be the result of a second wave of the virus on the Gold Coast?
We are able to prepare for the flu season through vaccine and changes in our habits, but with this virus there is no vaccine and the habits we have formed to protect us all are starting to be flouted by others.
What will happen if we allow our guard to drop and allow the protesters and others to simply do as they wish? What would a second wave look like?
RON NIGHTINGALE, BIGGERA WATERS
MANY local restaurants are under the jurisdiction of local councils and it makes good sense that council officers assist in monitoring the behaviour of both restaurant owners/managers and patrons.
After all, they control health and safety already and COVID-19 surveillance is in a similar vein. Diners hopefully will be their usual law-abiding selves and the relaxation commencing tomorrow for restaurants will prove successful.
KEN JOHNSTON, ROCHEDALE SOUTH
I AGREE completely with Ken Wade re the bats/flying foxes pandemic (GCB, 14/5). We need the state Labor governments of Australia to do something about eradicating them, at least from residential areas of Australia.
They are disease carrying animals and destroy our ecology more than pollinating the forests. Now that they have been associated with the coronavirus, it is even more important that they are wiped out.
BRIAN PARKER, GOLD COAST