The Daily Telegraph’s Jonathon Moran’s marathon wait for coronavirus test and results
The Daily Telegraph’s senior entertainment writer Jonathon Moran’s coronavirus ordeal is over after test results cleared him of having the disease. He described the wait as “agonising” as “cabin fever” and anxiety set in.
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The Daily Telegraph journalist Jonathon Moran has been cleared of coronavirus.
The entertainment writer has spent the past two days in home isolation after being tested for the virus at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital on Monday.
Moran and his partner were advised by Health Department officials to be tested after displaying flu-like symptoms - temperature, headache, sore throat, dry cough - a week after returning from a weekend trip to Jakarta, Indonesia, to attend a wedding.
“It has been a long few days,” Moran said after receiving the call from Public Health.
“It’s been pretty stressful with a lot of friends and colleagues concerned for our health. That has been the most difficult part.
“It’s better to be safe than sorry at this time so I believe we did the right thing.”
Moran’s clearance came as the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in NSW rose to 15.
The latest health department advice is that anyone who has been to Indonesia, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand and feels sick should see a medical professional.
Yesterday, Moran detailed the anxiety suffered while waiting for test results.
IN HIS OWN WORDS...
The wait is agonising. Although, at this point, I feel like I’m more likely to die of cabin fever than coronavirus.
Logically, I’m sure I don’t have the dreaded virus that has us all panicked. But, I can’t lie, the wait for test results has been frustrating at best.
You see, on Monday I spent nearly five hours at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney to get tested after being referred for tests because my partner and I have come down with flu-like symptoms after a trip to Jakarta, Indonesia a week ago.
A friend I saw at mardi gras texted because we kissed on the cheek when we said hello.
What’s very clear is people, myself included, don’t know what to do in this instance.
I feel guilty because I don’t have an answer.
My partner and I have rung the hospital several times.
Medical professionals are pushed to their limits doing their best but are clearly under resourced.
I’ve also learnt I’m grossly under prepared for being in lockdown and found out on Tuesday you can buy Weet-Bix, milk, Vegemite and a loaf of bread on Uber Eats but not margarine. So, dry toast it was.
After initially being told our results would be available in 24 hours, we have now been informed they won’t be finalised until Wednesday.
Meanwhile, news alerts keep popping up on my phone about the number of new cases doubling.
Again, I don’t think I have the virus – but I want to know for sure.
I want that clarity more for everyone I know than anything else, to put minds at ease.
I too want the clarity but, most of all, I just want chocolate and can’t leave the house to buy any.
HOW JMO’S STORY UNFOLDED
Being told to wear a mask and go straight to hospital is a pretty scary thing.
With the coronavirus spreading and given the fact I’d displayed flu-like symptoms after travelling to Jakarta a week ago, I was advised by my bosses to go to a doctor.
I had a sore throat, headache and a slight temperature but nothing I wouldn’t usually work through.
My cousin is a nurse and brought me up to speed on the latest health department advice, which is that anyone who has been to Indonesia, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand and feels sick should see a medical professional.
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I rang the government coronavirus hotline and was told to go to my GP but that I didn’t need to self isolate. My GP’s receptionist informed me they don’t do testing there and put me through to the nurse on staff who then advised me to go to hospital immediately.
When I rang St Vincent’s Hospital they put me on to Health Direct, where I waited for more than 20 minutes before speaking to a very helpful nurse. I was asked some basic questions including where I’d been overseas.
The nurse then advised to go straight to hospital in a mask and advise staff immediately I’d been overseas and had flu like symptoms.
All in all this took more than an hour and three phone calls with a lot of frustrating hold music.
Staff at St Vincent’s emergency department reception were neither polite nor particularly helpful. They didn’t seem fazed at all about coronavirus.
Sitting behind a glass security screen, a woman ushered my partner and I through to sit down and wait for a triage nurse to see us.
There’s a sign on the wall in English and Mandarin that reads: “tell staff immediately if … you have a fever with a cough, sore throat or shortness of breath and you have travelled overseas in the past month.”
Strangely though we were put with other patients in a small general waiting area. In my head I’m thinking, “god help us if a pandemic does take hold in Australia if this is the response”.
It took more than an hour to see a triage nurse, who asked the same questions and then sent us back out to wait but said we must wear our masks and make sure they were secure.
Of the roughly 20 people in the waiting area, there were three others with face masks.
It was another two hours before we were taken through to a sanitised room for examination by a doctor, who had to scrub up and put on a mask, gloves and goggles to protect herself.
As my partner took a photo, the doctor took two separate mouth and nasal swabs – one to be tested at St Vincent’s for general flu and the other to go to Westmead, where they test for coronavirus once a day.
It will be 24 hours before a health official will notify us of our results.
More than four hours after walking into emergency and armed with a two week sick note for my boss, the doctor sent us home for forced isolation with the suggestion that if we get worse we come back or call triple-0. With that, with masks on we drove home. Not long after, cleaners sanitised the consult room for the next patient.