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Mayor Greg Williamson is in talks about a potential quarantine hub in the Mackay Whitsunday region to deliver desperately needed fruit pickers from overseas to work on farms.
Cr Williamson held a meeting with Whitsunday, Townsville and Cairns mayors on Monday to discuss the issue, with talks ongoing.
“All of the mayors – Whitsunday, Townsville and Cairns – we’re all concerned about making sure that we have enough facilities available, particularly in North Queensland, to get us through this hump,” he said.
“Because tomatoes, capsicum – all those things will be very expensive if we can’t get them off the fields.”
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Losing four family and friends to the COVID-19 pandemic has strengthened the resolve of a Mackay registered nurse to keep colleagues and the community safe.
Not only did Sonia Davids experience the devastating reality of COVID-19, she also spent three months stranded in lockdown in South Africa at the start of the pandemic last year.
As the newly appointed Mackay Hospital and Health Service nurse unit manager in charge of rolling out COVID-19 vaccination, Ms Davids is on a mission to ensure healthcare workers have access to the jab.
Ms Davids could never have imagined a three-week holiday to visit family and friends near Port Shepstone in South Africa would turn into months of lockdown and two weeks of mandatory quarantine in Perth.