Covid-19 diary: Journalist Kyle Wisniewski on virus, Qld Health

Suffering from hot flushes, cold shakes, raucous coughing and an aching body, a Bulletin reporter has spoken about being infected by Covid-19, time in quarantine – and dealing with Qld Health.

Hot flushes, cold shivers and aches along my body – it’s Christmas night and I know something isn’t right.

After hours of agony I finally get to sleep.

I wake up on Boxing Day with a sore throat, headache and a cough that’s making the Gold Coast shake.

I’m rostered on to work, so I start early and put in a couple of hours before heading off to test for Covid-19.

I arrive at the Bond University car park in Varsity half-an-hour before the testing is scheduled to open but already I’m in a line hundreds of cars deep and the testing has started early.

Gold Coast Bulletin reporter Kyle Wisniewski has written about his experience after being diagnosed with Covid-19. Picture: Jerad Williams

Halfway through my three-hour wait Jim Maxwell’s voice lights up my radio and my ears tune into the cricket to hear it’s raining in Melbourne.

The talk about England’s poor Ashes showing fills my time as I snake my way through the line edging closer to the testing area.

I can finally see the finish line, a white tent with Queensland Health workers covered head to toe in PPE.

After filling out a sheet with my details and having a rod swooshed around my mouth and up my nose I head back to my apartment to work and wait for my results.

I still have a blocked nose and a rough cough but I’m starting to feel better.

A good sleep and I wake up on Monday feeling okay. At 1.23pm a message from GFL pops up on my phone screen.

Kyle Wisniewski training for the Gold Coast Marathon. Picture: Richard Gosling

“Kyle James, your COVID-19 test on 26/12/2021 is POSITIVE,” it reads.

“You and your household members must immediately isolate at home. You will be contacted by QLD Health as soon as possible.

“If you need urgent medical care call triple-0 and tell them you have tested positive to COVID-19.”

It then provided a website with more information about Covid diagnosed cases.

I alert work and those I’ve been with over the last few days. I wait to hear from Queensland Health but nothing.

The next day I ring Queensland Health at 10am, wait on hold for 45 minutes before a polite worker informs me I’ll have to isolate for 14 days from my test result.

She apologised that no one had contacted me and said because of the amount of positive cases, they’re doing their best to get to everyone.

She then said “if” a Queensland Health worker contacts me, they’d check in with how I was feeling and get details from me.

I got a message from one of my friends. He too has tested positive to Covid.

He got his test on December 23 and had to wait five days to get his result. At no point did he feel sick, he did it because he knew someone who tested positive.

He wasn’t notified about being a close contact, rather he did it off his own back.

He now has to spend another 14 days in isolation – totalling 19 days, including Christmas and New Year’s.

Bulletin reporter Kyle Wisniewski and Connor Brown celebrate after making the Queensland T20 final. Picture: Jason O'Brien

A day after I had been confirmed positive there were no contact tracing locations listed on the Coast since December 19.

After telling people I was positive I found out about three more people on the Coast who had tested positive since December 19.

On Tuesday my work colleagues went off to get tested and one was turned back after an hour-and-a-half wait, told the testing site was closing at midday.

When asked about the above issues, a Queensland Health spokesperson said: “Our contact tracers are working tirelessly to identify thousands of people and venues connected to COVID-19 cases.”

“We anticipated a rise in Covid-19 case numbers when the borders opened, which is why we have the ability to scale our contact tracing operations to meet demand.

“Where possible, people who are at higher risk will be contacted directly. If there are people we can’t get in contact with (for example, if they haven’t checked in), a public health alert is issued and exposure sites are listed online so anyone who’s been at an exposure site can take the appropriate action.

“However, as case numbers grow – into the hundreds and potentially thousands per day – it won’t be feasible to continue to attempt to contact trace every contact of every case, particularly in lower risk situations.

“Similar to other jurisdictions, it may also mean not every exposure venue is published on our website.

Bulletin reporter Kyle Wisniewski. Picture: Jerad Williams

“Household and close contacts are always prioritised, and will continue to be.”

The Queensland Government and Queensland Health have done an amazing job keeping the state safe for most of the pandemic.

They’ve provided free vaccines and free testing, but were they prepared to open the border?

On Monday Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: “No-one estimated 400,000 people would apply to come to Queensland.”

It caused Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate to fume: “No one should be surprised by the huge travel demand.

“For months leading into the December reopening, every national travel website showed the Coast was the number one place-of-choice for Aussies.”

As a healthy, double vaccinated 26-year-old, the Covid variant I have – which I still haven’t been told what it is – caused me one day of distress and a couple more of what felt the equivalent of a common cold.

It also means I’m in isolation for two weeks, missing New Years celebrations and my cousin’s wedding in Tasmania.

I’m happy to do the right thing and keep those who will be hit harder by the virus safe, but is everyone?

Does the state government and Queensland Health have the resources to keep the virus under control into the future?

If so much information is slipping through the cracks, will the public stop doing the right thing?