IMPORTANT NOTICE TO THE CHERBOURG COMMUNITY

The Local Disaster Management Group of Cherbourg Aboriginal Council has started its Pandemic Response Plan to fight COVID-19 and its potentially devastating effects on our community.

We must protect everyone from this virus, particularly our elders and people who are already sick. The LDMG will do this by restricting movement in and out of our community.

This will be done by starting a checkpoint on Cherbourg Murgon Road with help from QLD Health. This checkpoint is there to stop all unnecessary movement into and out of Cherbourg. This will help stop COVID-19 getting into our community. Health screening measures will be conducted at this checkpoint for people coming in to Cherbourg.

This checkpoint is not about keeping people in, it’s about keeping the virus out.

The Australian Government has announced important steps to keep the virus out of Indigenous communities. One of the steps is that if you leave community, you may not be able to get back in. This is to help make sure that our community members are not exposed to the virus or a similar illness.

Travel will only be allowed for seriously important reasons such as urgent medical matters.You will no longer be able to leave the community to go shopping, or for work.

To help community, a temporary store will be established at Cherbourg so food and other important items will be available.
All medications that you would usually get from the pharmacy in Murgon or elsewhere will now be available from the Cherbourg Hospital. Access to mail and essential services will be maintained.

COVID-19 is the biggest threat to our community in its history. We understand that these travel restrictions are inconvenient for everyone, however, we need to do this to protect our people.
If you want further information about this listen to Our Radio, the Cherbourg Council webpage and Facebook site.

Signed
Arnold Murray