Southeast Queensland's Ten-Person Gathering Limits Have Been Extended to the Gold Coast

Almost a week after reimplementing at-home and public gathering caps in the Greater Brisbane area in response to a cluster of cases linked to the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre in Wacol, the Queensland Government has today, Friday, August 28, announced that the new rules will be extended down to the Gold Coast.

While folks living in the Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan City, Scenic Rim, Somerset, Lockyer Valley, Moreton Bay and Redlands local government areas are already only allowed to have ten people inside their homes and at meetups outside of the house, that'll expand to everywhere between Brisbane and the Goldie — including all of the Gold Coast — from 8am on Saturday, August 29.

Yes, that means that house parties and mass hangouts both indoors and outside are off the cards on the coast, and your weekend plans might now change. For gatherings at home, you can have a maximum of ten people in your house — which includes people who don't normally live with you and residents. For gatherings in public, the maximum number of people that can be in one group is ten, including you and other members of your household.

Restrictions currently in place in hospitals, aged care facilities and disability accommodation facilities in Greater Brisbane — restricting visitors, and requiring the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) including face masks and gloves to treat all patients and residents — will also extend to the Gold Coast.

Like the Greater Brisbane area, however, venues and events that have put in place COVID-Safe Industry Plans can keep operating as they presently are — which spans cafes, restaurants, clubs, pubs, weddings and funerals.

Revealing the latest Goldie developments, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also announced a related piece of news: that this year's Schoolies celebrations have been cancelled. In a Twitter statement, the Premier explained that "the Chief Health Officer has designated mass gatherings over several days of Schoolies a high risk event. That means organised events like concerts won't proceed".

Because Schoolies doesn't just take place on the Goldie, Queensland will also specifically implement a statewide ten-person in-residence gathering cap throughout the event's usual period. So, between Saturday, November 21–Friday, December 11, no matter where in the Sunshine State you live — and even if you're staying at a holiday unit — you won't be able to have more than ten people in one residence.

Across the rest of Queensland — everywhere outside of the Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan City, Scenic Rim, Somerset, Lockyer Valley, Moreton Bay and Redlands local government areas at present, and the Gold Coast from 8am tomorrow — residents are also subject to limits. As introduced last week, folks in these areas can only have 30 visitors over to their homes, and can only gather in groups of 30 in public areas.

The latest changes come as Queensland announced three new confirmed COVID-19 cases today.

As always, even with increased restrictions on gatherings, the usual advice applies. Queenslanders should maintain social distancing and hygiene measures, stay home where possible, and get tested at the first sign of even the most minor of coronavirus symptoms.

For more information about southeast Queensland's COVID-19 gathering restrictions — including on the Gold Coast from 8am on Saturday, August 29 — or about the status of COVID-19 in Queensland, visit the QLD COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website.