Ruby Princess inquiry: St Patrick’s Day party held before ship docked in Sydney
An inquiry into the Ruby Princess debacle has heard from family of an elderly couple who passed away after contracting COVID on the ship, which hosted a party just two days before docking.
NSW
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The Ruby Princess held heaving parties days before all passengers were allowed to disembark in Sydney, while the cruise ship’s doctor insisted one coronavirus victim just had the flu, an inquiry heard.
Josephine Roope went on the ill-fated journey to New Zealand with her 77-year-old friend Lesley Bacon and her husband Brian Bacon.
Mrs Bacon became so sick she needed an emergency ambulance transfer when the vessel docked at Circular Quay in the early hours of March 19.
She later tested positive to COVID-19 and within a week, Mrs Bacon became the first passenger to die from the virus.
But the inquiry heard Dr Ilse Von Watzdorf and other medical staff repeatedly said “it’s only the flu, nothing to worry about” despite Mrs Bacon’s condition worsening considerably during the final days of the voyage.
“She had oxygen in the nose, and she had a drip on. She could hardly speak, her voice was really dry and croaky,” Ms Roope said on Monday.
“She just said: “I don’t feel good,”.”
Ms Roope added that at no stage was she advised by NSW Health to be tested for the deadly disease, even after her friend had died.
The witness considered it strange that temperatures were not taken before 2,700 guests were allowed to disembark, asking “why did we not get tested?” and “why did we not get checked going through customs?”
Jill Whittemore travelled from the United States with her mother-in-law and her husband’s maternal grandparents for the cruise.
But after flying back to San Francisco they became unwell and the elderly couple succumbed to COVID-19.
Mrs Whittemore said that on March 17 one of the ship’s lounges was full with partygoers listening to an Irish band for a St Patrick’s Day celebration.
“People were sitting really close together, maybe 400 people were there,” she said while giving evidence via video link from California.
Fellow guest Lynda De Lamotte said the Ruby Princess threw a big farewell party on March 18 where no social distancing occurred.
“They were dancing literally shoulder to shoulder. It was crowded,” she told the inquiry.
The asthmatic, who has suffered a heart attack in the past, enquired about being tested for coronavirus after she developed a sore throat during the cruise.
But the inquiry heard a crew member working at the guests services desk made Mrs De Lamotte feel it was unnecessary to attend the medical clinic as she didn’t have any other symptoms.
“She said I probably didn’t need to as it was very expensive,” Mrs De Lamotte said.
The witness said she later got swabbed at Campbelltown Hospital “for peace of mind” after seeing news reports of contagion on board the ship, and was shocked to discover she was an symptomatic COVID-19 sufferer on March 26.
The notorious liner has been linked to some 700 infections nationwide, more than 20 deaths and cluster outbreaks in northwest Tasmania and New Zealand.
Fellow passenger William Wright contracted COVID-19 on the liner, but doctors at Wollongong Hospital refused to test his wife on March 22 despite a major upcoming operation.
“They said she didn’t have any symptoms so they wouldn’t test her. I was quite annoyed actually because my wife was booked in for breast surgery on the third of April,” Mr Wright told the inquiry.
“They seemed to be reluctant to test me because I didn’t have any significant symptoms.”
That’s despite the fact that the couple had travelled with fellow guest and coronavirus survivor Henry Karpik, who almost died after being struck down with the disease and had to be placed into an induced coma.
After breathing through a ventilator for six weeks Mr Karpik beat the virus, but he’s still undergoing rehabilitation, the inquiry heard.
“He was lucky to be alive,” Mr Wright said.
“He’s on a walker and he was a fit man. He’s still got a long way to go I think.”
Mrs Wright ultimately secured a coronavirus swab which came back positive, but NSW Health refused to help in obtaining another test to confirm she no longer had the dangerous virus ahead of her surgery, the inquiry heard.
First-time cruise ship traveller Andrew Saulys spent four days in an Adelaide intensive care unit after he and his wife Joan were hospitalised with COVID-19.
“I had a cannula put in my arm so I could be drip fed… luckily whatever they did paid off,” he told the inquiry.
The South Australian couple said they were surprised when a Ruby Princess crew member refused two people permission to dine at an onboard restaurant during the voyage, after checking their names against the ship’s database.
The two passengers weren’t wearing masks and a female worker told them: “no you can’t eat here, you can only have room service,” the inquiry heard.
“She seemed quite flustered, the young girl on the desk, sort of waving them away hurriedly,” Mrs Saulys said.
Part-time Uber driver David Annesley caught the virus after picking up his infected mother-in-law.
NSW Health authorities had deemed the liner a low biosecurity risk, and Mr Annesley said the eldery woman told him: “I’ve never been ushered off a boat that quickly in my life.”
The inquiry heard that Mr Annesley’s mother-in-law Helen was taken to John Hunter Hospital in an ambulance on March 23, but when his wife asked if they could be swabbed for coronavirus, NSW Health told her: “until your mother tests positive, there’s no need for you to come in.”
By then Mr Annesley had already developed a sore throat, and it ultimately took him 19 days to recover from the disease, he said.