FLASHBACK: Kingaroy’s 2021 Australia Day celebrations were held at Lyle Vidler Oval … the 2022 event had been planned for Memorial Park

January 12, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed another event, with the announcement on Wednesday afternoon that Kingaroy’s Australia Day celebrations in Memorial Park have been scrapped.

“It is with deep regret that the committee has to announce, due to the ongoing pandemic situation and our commitment to keeping our community and our amazing hardworking committee/helpers safe we have decided to cancel this year’s celebrations at Memorial Park,” a notice from the organisers stated.

“The SBRC will still be holding their Affirmation Ceremony for our newest citizens and there is also a number of other celebrations happening on this date around our beautiful region.

“This was a very hard decision to make and we hope people understand that the safety of our entire community must come before anything else.

“Thank you so much on behalf of the entire committee, we can’t wait to bring you an amazing 2023 celebration instead, when hopefully this pandemic will be nothing but a memory.”

UPDATE January 13: Nanango’s Australia Day celebrations have also been cancelled.

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southburnett.com.au has been keeping track of some basic statistics for local Council areas since the re-opening of the State border on December 13.

These statistics, from Queensland Health, show the total number of confirmed positive cases per Local Government Area since the pandemic began in January 2020.

They are NOT the total of current ACTIVE cases but demonstrate how the virus has spread quickly throughout the local community.

We took snapshots on Dec 13, Dec 21 and daily since December 29.

These figures are current to 7:00pm on Tuesday (Jan 11):

  • South Burnett: 3 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 18 / 21 / 25 / 39 / 52 / 83 / 135 / 188 / 213 / 239 / 250 / 255 / 273
  • Cherbourg:  – / – / – / 3 / 12 / 21 / 30 / 51 / 61 / 71 / 74 / 89 / 96 / 96 / 97 / 97 / 100
  • Toowoomba: 52 / 56 / 233 / 312 / 368 / 396 / 463 / 579 / 665 / 751 / 841 / 940 / 1141 / 1315 / 1405 / 1565 / 1870
  • Gympie: 7 / 6 / 23 / 26 / 38 / 43 / 48 / 68 / 82 / 104 / 144 / 169 / 222 / 243 / 270 / 304 / 355
  • North Burnett: 3 / 3 / 5 / 5 / 8 / 9 / 13 / 13 / 14 / 14 / 17 / 21 / 23 / 27 / 29 / 31 / 31
  • Somerset: 6 / 6 / 14 / 15 / 15 / 20 / 28 / 34 / 38 / 48 / 64 / 104 / 127 / 160 / 178 / 201 / 231
  • Western Downs: 3 / 3 / 16 / 18 / 23 / 30 / 36 / 48 / 52 / 60 / 89 / 114 / 140 / 203 / 216 / 248 / 301

NB. Data is reported by Queensland Health daily but can vary over time due to case reviews. When we took the first snapshots, Cherbourg LGA had not been added to the list by Qld Health as no cases had been recorded there. From December 31, data is current to 7:00pm the previous day.

However, State Government data listing COVID-19 cases by postcode (since the pandemic began to about January 11) shows a total of 411 local cases:

  • 4314 – 6 (SB part)
  • 4605 – 145 (inc. 100 in Cherbourg)
  • 4606 – 10
  • 4608 – 3
  • 4610 – 212
  • 4613 – 1
  • 4615 – 34

Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council says there are approximately 62 households in Cherbourg isolating at the moment.

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Queensland officials announced 22,069 new cases of COVID-19 in the State on Wednesday.

Thirty patients are in intensive care, including eight on ventilators.

There are 525 people being treated for COVID in hospital.

Queensland Health statistics show there are officially 130,947 active COVID-19 cases in the State, although Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard has admitted the real figure is much larger.

Speaking at Wednesday’s media conference, Dr Gerrard said there was now enough data for patterns to emerge on the types of patients needing hospital care.

“If you are unvaccinated, you are nine times more likely to end up in hospital than if you have received a boosted vaccination,” Dr Gerrard said.

And double vaccination was not as good as triple vaccination in keeping people out of hospital.

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