The Brisbane CBD is hoping to return to pre-pandemic occupancy levels in the coming week with hope the end of close Covid contact rules will boost occupancy by 33 per cent.
The hospitality industry is celebrating the move with the manager of Le Bon Choix on Queen St, Pete Maung, saying it will help relieve pressures on the remaining staff.
“There have been days where we’ve just had three staff on the floor, and I’ve done 80-hour work weeks just to cover the shifts. It’s been very hard,” he said.
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BRISBANE’S CBD is expected to be bustling with workers in the coming week with hopes the end of close Covid contact rules will boost occupancy by 33 per cent.
At 6pm Thursday quarantine rules for close contacts and unvaccinated international travellers will end, relieving pressure on industries that have suffered significant staffing issues over the past five months.
With current office occupancy rates in Brisbane CBD at 48 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels, Property Council of Australia’s Queensland executive director Jen Williams said she hoped to see them reach previous rates.
“At this time last year, we were at 64 per cent occupancy in the Brisbane CBD. We’re hopeful that without these restrictions, we’ll now see our offices fill to that level once again,” she said. “We’re really excited to see the easing of restrictions and see more people come back into the office more consistently.”
Le Bon Choix barista Aditi Bennett, is relieved that the Covid-19 close contact quarantine rules will be scraped. Picture: Liam Kidston
The hospitality industry is celebrating the move with manager of Le Bon Choix on Queen St, Pete Maung, saying it will help relieve pressures from remaining staff.
“There’s been days where we’ve just had three staff on the floor, and I’ve done 80-hour work weeks just to cover the shifts. It’s been very hard,” he said.
Barista Aditi Bennett said workers at the cafe were looking forward to going back to their normal shifts as the restrictions ease.
“We’ve had a few workers isolating so we’ve had to pick up the slack. It will 100 per cent take the pressure off,” she said.
From tonight, close contacts will no longer need to stay at home as long as they are asymptomatic, however they will be required to wear a mask, avoid vulnerable settings and test negative every second day for a week.
Queensland’s borders will also reopen to unvaccinated international travellers without quarantine requirements so long as they don’t have symptoms, avoid vulnerable settings for seven days and test negative within 24 hours of arriving.
While the state has now eased most restrictions, there are some still in place particularly for vulnerable settings around the state.
Vaccination and check-in requirements are in place for anyone visiting hospitals, disability accommodation services, residential aged care and corrective services as well as workers in schools, childcare, prisons and airports.
Masks rules also apply for those in healthcare settings, residential aged care, disability accommodation, on public transport, in rideshares or taxis, in prisons, detention centres, airports and on planes.
There is still also a maximum of two fully vaccinated visitors per patient in hospitals, with the exception of the most high-risk sections.
Some workers in high-risk settings will still need to be fully vaccinated including schools, correctional facilities, airports and residential aged care – who also require their booster.
Those who have tested positive for the virus will also still be required to isolate at home for the full seven days.
It comes as Queensland reported 6848 new Covid-19 cases overnight on Wednesday and nine deaths.
The state is now at 41,459 active cases including 527 hospitalisations and 12 people in the ICU with the virus.
