When a potential positive case is found in Cairns, alert residents as “yellow alert” for plan and prepare similar to a cyclone, before “red alert” for lockdown. I was out of town and didn’t know until I made it back to cairns area. Maybe a text alert through the COVID check in app. Succinct, posters/graphics. Outlining details, emailed or texted through the disaster dashboard same as for cyclone advise. Clearer specifics regarding those entering CRC for work from outside. QLD separating into regions the contact tracing.
Discussion and Analysis The Cairns LGA has had two lockdowns due to COVID-19, one in 2020 and the other in August 2021. Fortunately, the LGA has not witnessed a significant number of COVID-19 cases, with a total of 59 since last year. To date, the spread of the virus has been suppressed although the risk of transmission remains high. Although the number COVID19 cases have been limited in the Cairn LGA, the pandemic has exposed people to a complex range of challenges and stressors. The impacts of the pandemic are not experienced uniformly and are amplified by social and economic vulnerabilities, labour market structures, the precarious nature of employment in some industries and pre-existing inequities. At the time of writing, the Cairns COVID-19 Local Recovery Plan identified that the impacts of the pandemic would be severe and recovery times likely to be longer in duration (CRC, 2020). At a broader scale, the pandemic has exposed the structural weaknesses of economic and social systems, “revealing numerous problems including unstable supply chains, unjust social provisioning of essentials, profiteering, precarious employment, inequities and pollution” (Spash, 2020:1). Evidence indicates that the Cairns region is continuing to experience significant challenges due to COVID19. Our studies, as outlined above, indicate the persistent nature of the impacts across social and economic dimensions of life in the Cairns LGA. 14 The findings in the research presented in this report demonstrate the enduring effects of COVID-19, which are creating both new social challenges and further compounding pre-existing conditions to detrimentally affect individual and community wellbeing. The report presents data from several different sources: i.e. from the broader Cairns community at random via surveys, through purposive sampling of individuals and key informants (including service providers). This triangulation of evidence from diverse sources confirms the continuing impacts of the pandemic. On a range of indicators relating to the impacts of COVID-19, participating service providers believed that there was little ‘distance travelled’ in improvements for their service users and communities since the 14
Based on independent economic analysis conducted August 2021, the economic impacts of COVID-19, whilst still significant, were not as severe as initially anticipated with the speed of recovery exceeding expectations, due to relatively good health outcomes and unprecedented policy support from all levels of Government. Broadly, the Cairns economy is described as transitioning from recovery to expansion, however some industries are facing ongoing impacts, such as tourism and international education. Whilst the Cairns economy is in transition, it remains susceptible to economic shocks associated with COVID-19 suppression measures in other areas. (It should be noted this analysis did not include impacts of the Cairns snap lockdown in August 2021 or other lockdowns from mid-June 2021 onwards throughout Australia.) (CRC, 2021).
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