FOREST CHUMPS
As thousands of selfless Gold Coasters sacrifice their jobs to ‘flatten the curve’ and save the lives of strangers, visiting bushwalkers think life is a box of chocolates
DOCTORS on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic say authorities need to get tough on selfish Gold Coasters putting others at risk by flouting the Government’s tight restrictions.
Photos have emerged of visitors flooding known hot spots such as Springbrook National Park and beaches in the past nine days, as health officials race to stop thousands of Australians from dying.
“Our colleagues in New York are in a medical war zone. It’s a disaster,” one Gold Coast doctor said.
“In places like Italy, they’re having to choose who to give life support to. Over 30,000 people are dead around the world.
“For God’s sake, stay at home. It’s the only way we can prevent this disaster from descending on Australia.”
Police yesterday said the number of “noisy party” complaints cops attended statewide at the weekend went up 300 in a week, and Mayor Tom Tate warned he would close the beaches if Gold Coasters failed to stay at home. Another 15 cases of coronavirus were confirmed on the Coast yesterday, bringing the city’s total to 136.
FRUSTRATED doctors say selfish Gold Coasters putting others at risk by flouting coronavirus restrictions only need to look at the “war zones” in countries such as Italy.
Health experts and city leaders are furious a small portion of the city is ignoring self-isolating messaging and treating the crisis as a holiday.
The Bulletin was sent photos of long lines of cars at Springbrook in the past nine days as people went on bushwalks, and beachgoers hit the surf again yesterday.
Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said officers would get tough on offenders after the number of complaints cops attended at the weekend went up 300 in a week, and Mayor Tom Tate says he will close beaches if people do not stay at home.
Victoria enforced a crackdown on rogue revellers hitting leisure hot spots and Queensland authorities said they would follow suit if Gold Coasters failed to heed the warning.
“The Queensland Government must make it an offence to break the regulations and ask the police to enforce them,” Gold Coast Medical Association head Dr Philip Morris said.
“The regulations about preventing individuals meeting in groups is for one reason only – prevent Australians dying from coronavirus infections that are caught from other Australians.
“Surely Queenslanders can show a good example and avoid the scenes photographed at Springbrook?”
A Gold Coast hospital doctor on the frontline of the coronavirus fight said: “Our colleagues in New York are in a medical war zone. It’s a disaster.
“In places like Italy, they’re having to choose who to give life support to. Over 30,000 people are dead around the world.
“For God’s sake, stay at home. It’s the only way we can prevent this disaster from descending on Australia.
“Some countries are arresting people for going out. Maybe that’s the right thing to do if people don’t get it. If we let this disease spread, it will kill thousands of Australians. It’ll change
life forever. We can stop this.”
The frustration comes as the city notched one of its most significant jumps in new cases as another 15 locals were confirmed infected yesterday. The tally on the Gold Coast is 136.
State-wide cases surged from 555 on Friday afternoon to a total of 689 by yesterday. Contract tracing is underway for all new cases.
General Practitioners Gold Coast boss Dr Katrina McLean said: “Any groups of people meeting in close proximity, regardless of where, places our entire community at risk.”
Though Springbrook residents earlier this month encouraged Gold Coasters to use the spot as a “perfect” isolation getaway, many businesses in the area have now closed.
A sign outside one closed business told visitors: “If you are reading this please go home. Help stop the spread. Keep safe. We are all in this together.”
Commissioner Carroll said the community had been compliant but police were called to a surge in house party noise complaints the past two weekends.
“What that means for us, obviously, is an extraordinary amount of resources diverted to looking after complaints and noisy parties and not where we should be concentrating our efforts,” she said.
“However, a result of … the new rules from today, police should not be getting any more noisy party complaints.”
Cr Tate reiterated his threat to close Gold Coast beaches if the public failed to adhere to new restrictions.
“There are more serious things afoot so stay at home, that’s the message from the Prime Minister,” he said. “We have to take that seriously.
“I know we are easy-going people on the Gold Coast but ... if you contract something, either at the beach or because you did not maintain social distancing, you are putting your family in danger and you will never forgive yourself.
“I would say if you do not need to go to the beach, stay at home.”
IF YOU ARE READING THIS PLEASE GO HOME. HELP STOP THE SPREAD
SIGN ON THE DOOR OF A SPRINGBROOK BUSINESS
AUSTRALIANS by their nature aren’t great at being cooped up inside, avoiding social outings and following government edicts to do this, that and the other.
But these are not normal times and it is going to require a consistent, collective and – perhaps most crucially – ongoing effort to get through it as quickly as possible with as many entities, institutions, communities, companies and lives intact as can be saved.
But in sporting terms, some people are letting the side down – and that includes people on the Gold Coast.
We have already seen aghast NSW health bosses crack down and temporarily close Bondi Beach after a 36-degree Saturday resulted in a debacle with crowds flocking to it and social distancing going out the window.
In Victoria, warnings were given after similar scenes at popular St Kilda beachfront. Closer to home Gold Coast City Council employees set a shocking example last week by crowding around each other at a public picnic table while on a work break prompting council to remind its staff they should be leading by example.
Now scenes in the past 10 days up until now at a scenic Springbrook spot showing cars banked up and clumps of people closely grouped together – and definitely not following strict 1.5-metre social distancing rules in place to help save lives – have prompted medical experts to warn they are risking everyone’s safety.
The key weapon everyone possesses in this global fight against coronavirus is control over their own behaviour.
We have all seen the photos from doctors at hospitals with signs stating “I stay at work for you, you stay at home for us”.
In recent days, it has been reported Australia’s rate of infection is slowing. The case numbers are still going up but not as fast as they have been.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison thanked Australia for its collective effort so far in following instructions and carrying out social distancing to stop encouraging the spread of the virus.
That is a victory for everyone who is doing their bit, and staying home or abiding by the 1.5m rules, washing hands and sticking to the new rule of groups of two maximum. But still the actions of the few are potentially ruining the good work of the majority. Be warned, police will not hesitate dishing out fines.
As one doctor said in this newspaper today: “In places like Italy, they’re having to choose who to give life support to. Over 30,000 people are dead around the world.
“For God’s sake, stay at home. It’s the only way we can prevent this disaster from descending on Australia.”
On the flip side, this crisis is also bringing out the best in many. Not just the businesses that are showing tenacity and quickly pivoting to try to carry on – such as the many restaurants flipping to become takeaway joints.
The generosity, from the Gold Coast burger joint dishing up freebies to people in Centrelink queues to more sizeable donations, has been heartening.
Included today is leading Gold Coast software firm Opmantek donating $20 million worth of software that helps enable large organisations to work remotely. A donation for the times.