Dear Members,
I wanted to give you an update after last weekend’s announcements regarding the increase in restrictions in South East Queensland. It appears that due to untraced COVID cases stemming from the Wacol Juvenile Detention Centre the Queensland Government are most concerned about private gatherings rather than licensed venues and tourist accommodation.
The restrictions are in place for the following Local Government Areas (essentially all of SE Qld):
- Brisbane
- Ipswich
- Logan
- Scenic Rim
- Somerset
- Lockyer Valley
- Moreton Bay
- Redlands
-
Gold Coast (from Saturday 29 August)
This limits public gatherings (think parks) and private gatherings in private residence to 10 people maximum. There are also further restrictions on Aged Care and Hospital/Medical Centres that do not apply to licensed venues. It is also important that your staff are aware of these restrictions if they live in any of these areas.
Licensed venues and hotels can continue to operate under the approved Industry COVID Safe Plan as we have been doing in Stage 3 - there have been no further restrictions or changes imposed on our venues.
This has been specifically addressed on the Queensland Health Department website FAQs – Click here
We will continue to pass on any information that we receive from Queensland Health or OLGR however the best course of actions is for all members to ensure compliance with their COVID Safe Plan.
QHA recommends:
- You re-iterate the need for compliance with all staff
- Do a physical check of the venue so you are satisfied that the COVID Safe plan is being upheld
- Tell staff that are unwell to NOT ATTEND. Whilst this is inconvenient, your venue will be judged by the public on how we respond today.
- Ensure that all patrons provide contact tracing details, and that these details are able to be given to Qld Health in a timely manner (within an hour usually).
As an industry, we have an opportunity to prove we are following the correct procedures. We currently do not have any further restrictions and can operate the same as we have been doing prior to this recent COVID cluster.
Thank you all for your efforts and as always, please contact any member of the QHA staff as we are happy to assist as best we can.
Bernie.
