As South East Queensland grapples with day two of lockdown, residents and businesses just over the border are still trying to understand what the restrictions mean for them.
For the first time, New South Wales border commuters needed two different declaration passes — one to head into Queensland and one to return to their home state.
Once back in New South Wales, these commuters must abide by the lockdown laws of South East Queensland, which means they can only leave home for essential services or to go to work if they cannot work from home.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said today two locally-acquired cases in the most recent reporting period was encouraging, however no decision had been made about whether the three-day lock down would be lifted at 6pm on Friday.
Concerns over hard border closure
One of the main concerns raised by Tweed residents was that the lockdown would be extended or upgraded to a hard border closure.
One business owner said cement bollards had appeared at the end of his street and he was worried about what that might mean.
Resident Alanna Kolovos-Rutledge said people needed to do the right thing to avoid a worsening of the situation.
"It is a nightmare, particularly for people in my circumstances — I travel over the border everyday for work, my mum lives over the border," Ms Kolovos-Rutledge said.
"It's really difficult right here, on the border, but at the same time if we are going to be saving lives, it's something we are going to have to go through."
Uncertainty making life hard
Tweed businesses operators said the sudden lockdown had created a high level of uncertainty.
Tweed barber Duane Makawe said a lot of locals did not know what think.
"We are right on the border so you have the Queensland restrictions and the New South Wales, which are not the same," Mr Makawe said.
A toll on mental health
Bay Street cafe owner Sam Saulwick said the ongoing uncertainty was taking its toll on his staff and border residents in general.
"I think that is the thing we are underestimating most, we are underestimating that amongst our elderly population," Mr Saulwick said.
"At our cafe, all of our tables and chairs and table and seating are gone. For some of that elderly population, that is their only opportunity to get out and socialise.
"Certainly for our staff, myself included and our business partners, that added stress and that weight and cloud of uncertainly that comes over every time we go through this situation is what we are underestimating the most.
"We need to acknowledge that we can only do what we can do and we are all in this together."
Holiday maker Esther Cotton, from Melbourne, said she and her husband felt like lockdowns kept following them wherever they went.
"Lucky we are on the border so we can move down to New South Wales to keep out of a red zone. It's certainly not what we planned."
