Good God, The Gold Coast Mayor Is Already Floating The Idea Of Schoolies Over Zoom

As the coronavirus pandemic threatens to derail large public gatherings for months to come, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has a groundbreaking suggestion for anyone planning to attend Schoolies: just catch up with your mates on Zoom. It will be lit!

Speaking to the The Gold Coast Bulletin, Mayor Tate said the ultimate power to postpone or cancel the event rests with Queensland’s Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeanette Young.

The State Government doesn’t directly operate Schoolies (can you imagine?), and there’s been no official word on a ban due to public health concerns.

But Mayor Tate seems prepared for that circumstance.

“You’re the technology people,” he said.

“Maybe you use Zoom or whatever it is, social media, to do Schoolies like that from home.”

Yiew!

The 2020 Schoolies season is slated to kick off in November, potentially drawing thousands of recent Year 12 graduates to the beachside city to do Schoolies things.

Previously, Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace told the ABC that Schoolies activities “would need to be held in a format that abides by Government restrictions in place at that point in time — for example, crowd numbers at events.”

As it stands, plans for public events with greater than 10,000 people must be approved by the state’s Chief Health Officer. Attendees must also observe physical distancing of 1.5 metres “to the extent possible.”

Given the outbreak in Victoria, and Queensland’s restrictions on travellers from metro Sydney, you can expect authorities to have more to say on the matter in the weeks to come.

If worst comes to worst, Mayor Tate has already sussed out your substitute celebrations.

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