Mayors representing Far North Queensland's Indigenous communities have raised concerns that overcrowded housing has fuelled COVID outbreaks.
Australia's biggest Indigenous community, Yarrabah, has amassed about 270 cases in less than a fortnight and 160 households are in quarantine.
Some Yarrabah houses are home to as many as 20 people from up to three family groups.
Further north across Cape York and the Torres Strait there are 280 active cases and reports of families testing positive in homes shared with as many as a dozen adults.
North Peninsula Area Regional Council Mayor Patricia Yusia is pleading with visitors to test negative before arriving because of a shortage of quarantine space if they test positive while in the region.
Across remote North Queensland there is a growing sentiment that communities have been left to fend for themselves — a vastly different situation to when regions were locked down at the start of the pandemic.
One in 10 positive in Yarrabah
The 269 cases in Yarrabah represent more than a tenth of the community's official population.
Mayor Ross Andrews said rapid transmission had been inflamed by living conditions.
"Overcrowding in our houses, that's a recipe for spread in the community," he said.
"Our communal way of living with extended family, that creates overcrowding in our houses.
Cr Andrews has been on the front line of the COVID battle since it began and said the push for "personal responsibility" came from a position of privilege and did not take into account that there were often more than a dozen people living in households.
"When they say that you have to go in quarantine, they don't really understand," Cr Andrews said.
He said the community had worked with the state government to arrange five accommodation units for isolation, but the housing crisis was a long-term issue.
"Many of the communities around the country inherit a legacy of poor social infrastructure around social determinants of health," Cr Andrews said.
For Yarrabah the fight began before Omicron emerged, with local health authorities battling misinformation to get the community protected.
Last week, Yarrabah hit 90 per cent for first dose vaccinations.
Plea for quarantine housing
Torres Shire Council Mayor Vonda Malone is calling for greater transparency from state and federal agencies about vacant staff housing on Thursday Island.
Residents are facing an acute housing crisis, with more than half of the island occupied by public servant housing.
With about 60 positive cases on the island, Cr Malone said the local disaster management group had pleaded with departments to use the vacant properties.
"We've had to elevate it up to various ministers, because departments themselves are feeling that they will lose their accommodation if they provide this to other agencies," she said.
Cr Malone said positive cases had occurred in overcrowded households.
"We've had the first cases of up to 11 adults in one household," she said.
"Within the household [are] pregnant mums, infants, children, babies, all of the above."
Cr Malone said contact from state and federal authorities had been minimal since the outbreak occurred.
"We're echoing the same sentiments — we're really still concerned about what lack of support and resources have been provided by the Queensland government through this," she said.
"As far as communication goes from both the state and the federal, it's been nil to non-existent."
Cape councils feeling unsupported
In Queensland's northernmost mainland region, the Northern Peninsula Area is trying to contain 60 cases.
Cr Yusia said the level of support from state and federal authorities was now sorely lacking.
"When we first got that COVID in 2020, everyone was really concerned about it, contacting all the mayors in the communities," she said.
"We were told in the beginning that should there be COVID in the community and we don't have the appropriate to accommodation to manage, then they would either provide accommodation or fly them down to Cairns.
"But now a lot of the requests are to isolate at home."
She has pleaded with the Chief Health Officer to introduce testing requirements for visitors.
"It's purely because of isolation," she said.
"People from outside, if they have a positive, then it's very difficult for them to be isolated here."
In a statement, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Minister Craig Crawford said contact with councils had been ongoing and constant.
"Just like in cyclone, fire and flood, they have their own local leaders who call the shots based on community needs on the ground,'' he said.
"If COVID means living conditions aren't suitable, [Local Disaster Management Groups] work to find alternative accommodation.
"There are currently no entry and quarantine requirements or travel restrictions for Queensland's remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities."
