28 June 2021

Dear colleagues,

COVID-19 restrictions will be introduced in Queensland as of 1 am tomorrow morning after we recorded three new cases overnight.

Two of these cases were locally acquired and one acquired overseas which was detected in hotel quarantine. One of the locally acquired cases has been linked to the Portuguese Family Centre cluster and the other with the Northern Territory mine exposure.

This situation has caused us to posture to high alert. I encourage you all to keep abreast of the current Contact tracing exposure sites as there are new sites added – in particular a number of Virgin flights on Friday 25^th and Saturday the 26^th.

New restrictions 

From 1 am tomorrow, the following restrictions will be in place in the following South East Queensland areas: Brisbane, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, Moreton Bay, Scenic Rim, Lockyer Valley, Somerset, Noosa and Sunshine Coast.

Restrictions:

• Face masks must be worn outside of your home (excluding when in your private vehicle, when doing strenuous exercise or if you have a medical condition), including at work.
• Maximum of 30 people can gather at home (including residents, visitors and children).
• Seated eating and drinking at cafes, restaurants and venues.
• Weddings and funerals can have one person per four square metres or a maximum of 100 people. Dancing at weddings is limited to 20 people at any one time.

For the rest of Queensland, from 1 am Tuesday 29 June, if you have been in South East Queensland you must wear a face mask when you’re outside your home. At this stage these restrictions are due to be reviewed on Tuesday 13 July, but keep in mind this may change if we detect more locally acquired cases in the coming days.

Residential aged care facilities, disability accommodation services, detention facilities and hospitals will have visitor restrictions during this period.

More information is available online.

Compulsory use of Check In Qld app

Staff, patients and visitors are now being asked to use the Check In Qld app regularly. We are moving to this for patients and visitors to meet the requirements of the Restrictions on Businesses, Activities and Undertakings Direction (No. 21). Our request of staff is to use the Check In Qld app so as to simplify contact tracing should there be a transmission event in our hospital.  This means you need to use the Check In Qld app to sign in when you start work and if you work in a designated COVID ward. If you then walk into a café or a store with a new QR code, you also need to sign in there as well.

With more than 23,000 staff across our facilities, it’s important we can give as accurate information as possible should contact tracers need to look into anyone who works, visits or is receiving care here.

Keep up the good work 

Thank you everyone for stepping up to Tier 1 as well as wearing masks (and eye protection) onsite today. There are some minor modifications to our previously published Tier 1 document. This is because the Tier documents are a continuum, and we are operating in an environment where a good portion of our staff are vaccinated.

We’re very capable at implementing this routine and it’s important for us to be the gold standard, so keep doing what you do best! Washing hands properly and thoroughly, covering coughs and sneezes, getting your vaccine, and staying home when sick.

National Cabinet will be meeting at 5.30 pm tonight, and we are expecting to hear some updates from this. I will communicate whatever comes from the meeting to you as soon as I can.

Kind regards,

Dr Liz Rushbrook
Metro North Incident Controller

Metro North HHS – overview of cases*

*As at 28/06/2021 at 1500

**Metro North Health has four recorded deaths (one person a return traveller into NSW, who passed away in NSW)   

*** These numbers reflect the cases being managed by Metro North Health.