Our team at Tropic Now wanted to give you a quick update about our response to the coronavirus outbreak. 

The impact is already hitting hard in Cairns and Far North Queensland, and that's before any official cases have been confirmed here. 

Our news team is small, but we punch above our weight. Our online traffic continues to soar, and that was long before the COVID-19 crisis started. You can read about our record-breaking online traffic during February here.

As each day - make that each hour - of uncertainty and change rolls on, our locally owned and operated media group is becoming a focal point and information hub of news and advice about the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Increasingly, people are reaching our site with search terms like "is coronavirus in Cairns?", "Cairns hospital coronavirus" and, more simply, "coronavirus Cairns".

Our story revealing Queensland Health modelling that 1-in-4 people in the Cairns and Far North Queensland region will almost certainly contract COVID-19 has quickly become one of our most viewed articles since our site was launched in 2016.

OUR COMMITMENT TO FACTUAL INFORMATION

It is not easy being in small business right now, regardless of the industry or sector you're in. That includes being in the news media business, as we are.

Our small locally owned company is no different from any other - whether it's selling advertising space or providing Tropic Studio services, we are impacted by changes in the local economy like everyone else. And like every other business (locally, nationally and internationally), everything seems to be up in the air as we adapt and pivot and grapple with the new reality unfolding before us.

Apart from the health impacts, this disease will cause an economic fall out the likes of which we haven't seen for generations. 

We will work as hard, as fast and as constructively as we can to be your local hub of sensible, factual news and information, not just about COVID-19 but all the other local news we report on a daily basis, all of it available to read for free. 

We will also do everything we can to support our small business advertising community by pushing a strong buy local philosophy, promoting their offers and collaborating on new ideas where possible. 

We're getting an increasing volume of news 'tips' and questions from our readers, asking us to investigate, research and seek answers on a range of topics related to the disease and the management response by governments and health authorities.

We are doing our best to chase down those leads and questions and get answers from reliable, credible sources, despite how difficult it sometimes is to get answers from them, including Queensland Health.

In coming days, we'll reveal more of our plans to provide more information, news and advice about how to deal with COVID-19 outbreak, as well as provide options for small businesses to keep getting their message out, even if that message is changing and evolving.

Please get in touch with our team with any news questions or marketing and advertising inquiries.

It's going to be a strange, tough time ahead, and locals supporting locals has never been more important than right now.

For general and editorial inquiries, email Gavin King

For news inquiries and story leads, email Renee Cluff

For advertising and Tropic Studio marketing services, email Tim Cooke