Doctor alarm as the council ‘complacent’

GOLD COAST doctors are concerned about “confusing” COVID-19 messaging from the city council and poor social distancing from locals as the virus spreads in NSW and Victoria.

The council on Monday removed an advertisement promoted on its We Are Gold Coast Facebook page highlighting “live gigs are back!” with an accompanying photo of a packed dance floor and people crowd surfing.

Gold Coast General Practitioners Association’s Dr Katrina McLean and Dr Sonu Haikerwal said the region was on a “knife’s edge” when it came to further coronavirus outbreaks and caution was paramount.

They said the advertisement didn’t put people in the right state of mind.

“You see an ad where people are crowd surfing and it is really the opposite of how we should be thinking; we are not back to everyday life, in fact we need to be more responsible for our behaviour,” they said.

“Distancing should be a default. We need to be thinking about where we are going, how long we are going to be there, and if we need to be going at all.

“We saw what happened down south, and there is no reason we should be thinking we are immune.”

A spokesman for the council said, “The We Are Gold Coast channel is committed to supporting businesses and the Gold Coast community as we recover from the impact of the pandemic, however, an error in judgment was made in choosing the image and it has now been removed.

“The city is committed to social distancing and hygiene guidelines as outlined by QHealth.”

The concern comes as a Gold Coast father has raised an alarm about families ignoring social distancing measures at the Broadwater Parklands.

Chevron Island dad Paul Harris said he was shocked to see more than 40 children on the jumping pillow despite limits of just 20.

“It is like we think we are invincible because we are in Queensland,” he said.

Dr Haikerwal said there was real anxiety in the medical community about transmission taking off.

“Now the borders are open, we need to bring our thinking back to where we were at the start of March,” she said.