Cairns mobility takes a huge hit as lock-out continues

Posted on September 6, 2021 by Pete Faulkner - Cairns, COVID-19, Uncategorized

The impact on mobility in Cairns, as measured by the average of the Google Mobility Indexes, as NSW, Victoria and (briefly) Cairns itself went into lock down has been dramatic. Despite Cairns’ own lockdown lasting just 3 days the effect of the continued lock down in the South, which has been tagged as the ‘locked-out’ effect, the decrease in mobility has persisted.

As the Sydney lock down started, followed by the brief Cairns lock down and then more broadly in Melbourne, NSW and Victoria, we saw mobility collapse by more than 25%; one of the largest slow downs seen anywhere in Australia since the initial Mar-Apr 2020 shutdowns. Since then things have recovered to the point where, once again, Cairns sit higher than Queensland but is still some 10% below the peaks seen in mid-July. The effect on the region of being locked-out of NSW and Victoria is having a huge impact on mobility in Cairns.