CRIPPLING, BLUNT RESTRICTIONS. HOW DID WE GET HERE?

IT hasn’t taken much for a cluster to turn into a complete clusterf--k.

Two weeks ago this city was uniting with Brisbane to cheer a successful southeast Queensland bid to win the 2032 Olympics. A day on from that jubilation, this paper’s front page noted the city was in “economic limbo”. It wasn’t in official lockdown at that point but city leaders said it may as well have been, such was the impact of major states being shut.

At the time, city tourism boss Paul Donovan noted “we’re virtually in economic lockdown as no one else can get here”. Securing the 2032 Olympics was “great” but it would be nice if there were some businesses left intact by then to service it, he wryly said.

Village Roadshow’s Bikash Randhawa would later describe the city as being not in lockdown but meltdown. It wasn’t a long wait for the actual lockdown to arrive.

By Saturday morning, with no warning, the Coast joined 10 other local government areas whose residents are now largely confined to home. Due to the risk of the Delta strain making its way down the M1, which is hard enough to negotiate as a commuter, the city has been forced into lockdown with zero community cases.

It is scheduled to lift come Sunday 4pm but with no guarantees that will happen. On many levels it defies belief.

A crippling, blunt, blanket lockdown for entire areas seems unfathomable as the go-to option 17 months into this. But plenty defies belief right now.

So far this week, the state’s chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young has implored people to restrict their movement and remain home-bound to such a degree that she even put the mockers on shopping online to avoid delivery people having to be out and about. Then came the absurd clarification from her that “of course” if your house was on fire, you could leave it.

Yes, we’re at that point. Life is weird right now. The absurdities abound. The Gold Coast has no community cases of the virus that authorities are worried about. But it’s never been more restricted.

That said, film sets are able to keep filming. Construction sites are able to keep constructing. Sex shops? Open. Liquor stores? Open. A gun and ammo shop? Open.

Gyms? Not a chance. The authorities have hammered the message: only go out for something if it’s absolutely essential.

When a Bulletin colleague went into a homeware store this week that was open and asked how they were getting around the restrictions to stay open, a staffer said they were only selling essential items.

Asked what “definition” of essential was being applied, the staffer replied: “If you need it, it’s essential.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Tom Tate is tearing what’s left of his hair out on behalf of the rest of the city and questioning why a place of 700,000 with no cases in the community is in lockdown. The hurt and pain is real. Looking at it through the prism of people with no wage security worried about paying the rent and putting food on the table, gives the debate a whole new complexion.

One hospitality boss said when lockdown kicked in: “I’ve already had two staff members call me in tears and it’s only 11.30am. Breaks my heart.”