Despite speculation that Prime Minister Scott Morrison is pushing for a unified national edict of allowing indoor gatherings of 10 people in an announcement that’s due tomorrow, Queensland Premier Annastasia Palaszczuk has beaten that to the punch by announcing the state’s lockdown restrictions will be formally relaxed in time for Mother’s Day this weekend, with groups of 5 people permitted to visit another household.
Premier Palaszczuk announced that, from this Sunday, Queenslanders will be able to visit another household in groups of five, provided that group is from the same family or household.
The crucial proviso means that the restriction relaxation is essentially limited to one household visiting another. However the five person limit only applies to the visiting group, and not the amount of people living in the house being visited, so theoretically there’s no real upper limit on the indoor gathering size as far as that is concerned.
Speaking to media this morning, Palaszczuk stated “Now, of course, this Sunday is Mothers’ Day. And because Queensland has been doing such a great job, from Sunday, we will be allowing up to five members to visit a household right across Queensland. So that is great news for families.”
There will be no restriction on how many visiting groups a single household can receive in a single day. This means one family group can visit their parents or grandparents in the morning, and another can do so later in the afternoon, for example.
Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young further clarified the relaxations, stating “It’s about five people – maximum – of one family group, one household group, going to another household group. One household going to another household. You can split it up. So, I’m sure there’s a lot of Mums out there who’d love to see one household in the morning and another in the afternoon and another in the evening. That could happen. But they can’t all go at the same time. So it’s about one household with another household.”
At this stage it’s hard to see how these relaxations will co-exist – if they do at all – with the reported Federal push to implement 10-person indoor gatherings, which Prime Minister Morrison is reportedly pushing the states on in National Cabinet meetings. However it all ultimately remains a state issue, as Morrison has so frequently parroted, so today’s decision from Queensland could wind up being the first of a very disparate and confusing block of annoucements.
It’s gonna be an interesting 24 hours or so.
