December 21
On 25MAR2020 Queensland had closed its borders.
On 10JUL2020 borders had opened with New South Wales.
08AUG2020 following a break-out the borders In were closed again.
03NOV2020 the border between QLD and NSW opened with the exception of the greater Sydney area.
01DEC2020 they were welcome too.
Now 21DEC2020 thirty-five New South Wales Local Government Areas centred around Sydney but going as far as Katoomba and Woollongong were on the list. If you came to Queensland through or from those 35 LGAs then you had quarantine in a hotel for 14 days at your own expense.
The next morning on the 22nd of December at 6am, the hard border went back up between New South Wales and Queensland.
That morning Assistant Police Commissioner Shane Chelepy told ABC Radio Brisbane, “We’ve had to turn around 115 cars yesterday and at the airports in the last 24 hours, we’ve denied another 38 people we’ve had to turn away on alternate flights. There are a number of people travelling through we still need to turn around.”
With over 70 points of entry along the border with 17 alone on the Gold Coast there were timely reminders why such measures were put in place.
Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski advised that officers conduction random check on Monday the 21st had turned around 81 travellers trying to cross over in breach of the rules.
On Monday 658 vehicles came through Goondiwindi with 40 people sent to home quarantine.
Speaking of home quarantine, four people had been caught breaching the rules of that and been placed in government hotel facilities and fined $1,330 each. Home quarantine was for people who had visited a hotspot recently but had returned home to Queensland before the new restrictions.
Other states had already closed.
Western Australia from midnight Saturday night 19DEC2020 had closed its hard border with all of New South Wales.
Victoria had already closed to Sydney and the Central Coast on Sunday announcing any Victorians returning from Sydney could self isolate for 14 days but from midnight from Monday night people had to go into hotel quarantine. Everybody else coming from Sydney had to go into hotel quarantine from Sunday.
Everybody coming into Victoria from New South Wales had to go into quarantine.
On Sunday Victoria Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton had advised, “These are proportionate measures, because what we see today in Sydney is not what the situation will be like a week from now. We do have to hang onto this precious COVID-free situation in Victoria. And even though we haven’t got community transmission, we have flagged now, Victoria really is or should be on high alert.”
Thirteen vehicle checkpoints were put in place on the New South Wales and Victoria border. Albury/Wodonga residents were likely in for a fun time again.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews had been clear too that the measures made in Victoria regarding the Sydney cluster would not be reviewed at the same time that New South Wales Premier would consider changing the restrictions in her capital city on Wednesday.
South Australia had also set up border checkpoints from Sunday and anybody coming from Greater Sydney they could not enter the state. Those who had come back since December 10 had to self quarantine.
“There’s always a risk when you have this nasty virus in your state, but I truly believe that we have gone above and beyond to make this as safe as possible for South Australia because I can tell you, I personally do not want to go through another Parafield cluster,” South Australia Chief Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said.
South Australia moved to a hard border closure with New South Wales from New Years Day.
The Australian Capital Territory had also made a decision on Sunday.
In Sydney itself New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard was not happy. You could use QR codes at venues to register your details and attendance on your mobile phone. But there were also old fashioned clipboards and sheets to sign in on. But a change was in the wind and in a few days I would find myself having to master using my phone to log in using QR codes up in Brisbane.
Why?
“What we are finding is that some of the visitors to various venues still think that it is funny to be caught putting in there that you’re Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse or a false phone number. That must stop. This is a worldwide COVID pandemic and thinking it’s smart to call yourself Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse is about as stupid as it gets. So that must cease,” I wholeheartedly agree but had to admit that when dear Mr Hazzard said so in the news it did make me snigger.
-Lloyd Marken
An interesting point on a recent news broadcast. Air travel may only be possible in future to countries which have vaccinated a very large percentage of their population. If a country doesn’t do this, new strains will develop there and the vaccinated tourists may carry them back to their own country. If the new strain isn’t affected by our current vaccines, then we will be back to square one.
Thanks John, seems like a reasonable thing to expect. Hope you’re keeping well.
I had my first vaccination on Wednesday. It was the Astra-Zeneca vaccine. Second dose in 12 weeks. The vaccination programme here has been managed well so far, though many people are still refusing to have it.
Best wishes, Pete.
That is fantastic news Pete! I hope it proves effective, Astra-Zeneca is the one due to be rolled out the most in Australia although the Pfizer vaccine did better in trails. If we get to 70% vaccinated i guess that will be enough. Best wishes Pete.