Wellcamp not redundant with home quarantine, says Minister
CHIEF health officer Dr Jeannette Young said she would be comfortable for the state’s borders to be opened once every single Queenslander, aged 12 years or older had been given the chance to be vaccinated.
“Then it’s people’s choice, and I hope people choose the vaccine,” she said.
She said she did not believe that everyone had been given the chance to be vaccinated yet.
It comes as Health Minister Yvette D’Ath urges regional Queenslanders to come forward and get vaccinated to prevent their community from becoming “ground zero” in an outbreak.
Queensland recorded no new local Covid cases overnight while six overseas-acquired cases have been detected, including five on the ship Imabari Queen off the state’s coast.
Speaking from Mackay, Ms D’Ath said Mackay had low vaccination rates and she was urging everyone to come out and get jabbed.
“This is as real as it gets,” she said. “NSW has had over 60,000 cases in three months from one person since June.”
Ms D’Ath confirmed that a home quarantine trial would start on October 11. People must be fully vaccinated, live within two hours of Brisbane airport, be able to quarantine at home or have the whole household quarantine together.
Regarding home quarantining for returned overseas travellers in Qld, she was waiting to see what the results were from the South Australian trial currently under way.
Ms D’Ath said purpose built facilities like Wellcamp would not be made redundant by more widespread use of home quarantine.
International students, people who don’t meet home quarantine criteria and international farm workers are some of the people who would still use Wellcamp, she said.