In Cape York’s Indigenous communities, locals are anxious for rain.
Covid cases have spread to remote parts of northern Australia for the first time – just days before the expected onset of the wet season that will cut road access to large swaths of the Cape for months.
Soon, the only way into the Aboriginal community of Lockhart River will be by air. The flood waters could represent a circuit-breaker to help restrict arrivals and keep Covid infections at bay.
Or, in a worst-case scenario where the virus arrives before the rain, they could hem in vulnerable people living in overcrowded homes and unable to isolate; people living with chronic health conditions that can heighten the severity of Covid.
“We’re burying people too young as it is,” the Lockhart River mayor, Wayne Butcher, told Guardian Australia.
“The last four women we buried in our community were under the age of 45. The last thing we need is Covid.”
Butcher said he received about 100 phone calls earlier this week when health authorities announced a case had been detected in Lockhart River. Outbreaks have already taken hold in Cherbourg – where there are more than 100 cases, including two people in intensive care – and on Palm Island. Cases have also been detected in other parts of Cape York and in the Torres Strait.
The Lockhart River case is, fortunately, isolated about 8km from the town.
“Everyone is in panic mode at the moment,” said Butcher.
“People are very worried. The festive season is probably the worst time, because the majority of our people go down to Cairns, they’re shopping for Christmas, visiting family and coming back.”
The onset of the wet season now feels like a race against time.
“We won’t be able to control Covid here because of the culture of sharing. We’ve got two-bedroom houses with 15 people living in it.
“We saw that out in Wilcannia, Bourke and western NSW, they were able to drive 100 caravan homes out there to put people out in the paddocks. In the wet season we won’t be able to drive a four-wheel-drive into Cape York.
“If we keep Covid out, we’ve got a natural gate for three months. But now we’ve already got cases in the Torres Strait and we’ve got cases in Cape York. It’s only going to grow by the minute. It’s a wait and see game now.”
Higher rates of infection
Queensland recorded more than 10,000 confirmed Covid cases across the state on Thursday. The explosion of case numbers has been tempered with news that there are still relatively few people in hospital, in intensive care, or requiring a ventilator.
Jason Agostino, the senior medical adviser to the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, said Indigenous people and those living in remote communities were at heightened risk.
“It’s safe to assume that we’re going to see higher rates of infection and more people with severe disease in remote communities because of higher rates of chronic conditions that lead to more severe Covid, like diabetes and heart disease,” Agostino said.
“[In previous outbreaks] Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had been infected at twice the rate. There have been higher hospitalisations and ICU admissions in every single age group and we expect that to continue through Omicron.
“The challenge in Queensland is how stretched the health system is already. With really large Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities in Queensland being affected at the same time, their ability to respond [will be impaired].”
The Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council had expressed “profound disappointment” that border decisions had been made without consultation with First Nations people, particularly given the vaccination take-up had been slow in some places.
As the outbreak spreads, health workers are going door-to-door on Palm Island attempting to lift that rate.
Butcher, who is the co-chair of the Indigenous Leaders Forum, said remote communities had wanted the Queensland border re-opening delayed until the New Year.
“We were very concerned, the Indigenous shires, simply because some of the communities weren’t double-vaxxed enough,” Butcher said.
“We were asking the Queensland government to hold off until after the New Year to give us more time.
“But I guess we’re a minority in this state.”
