Coronavirus: infected cruise widow was denied coronavirus test

Alarming accounts of passengers from the Ruby Princess cruise show the depths of the fiasco.

Des Williams, who died at Toowoomba Hospital, with his wife Bev. Picture: Supplied

The wife of a Queensland man who died after contracting the coronavirus has been told she has the virus too after initially being denied a test.

Des Williams died at Toowoomba Hospital this week, one of at least seven passengers of the Ruby Princess cruise ship to succumb to COVID-19.

Relatives say they had believed he had years of life ahead of him, with no known underlying medical conditions when he boarded the ship, now mired in controversy.

“His mother lived to 104. We expected him to go the same way,” stepson Craig Blackburn told The Weekend Australian on Friday.

More than 500 infections have been linked to the ship, but the true number may have been masked by doctors turning away people lacking symptoms.

Mr Williams, 85, and his wife Bev, 79, were on their 11th cruise together. They disembarked at Circular Quay with the rest of the 2700 passengers on Thursday March 19, then flew to Brisbane and drove home.

The following week, Mr Williams developed a mild cold then a high temperature and difficulty breathing. He went for testing on Saturday, March 28, and was taken to hospital, where he was confirmed as having the coronavirus the next day.

His condition improved, but then went downhill again.

Mrs Williams was at first denied a coronavirus test despite their close contact and her high-risk age.

Crew members busy themselves aboard contagious cruise ship Ruby Princess.

“They basically said `no, you’ve got no symptoms’,” Mr Blackburn said.

Mrs Williams was only tested on Wednesday this week after developing a tightness in her chest.

“The nurses were a little bit alarmed about that and I think they ultimately thought she was having a heart attack,” Mr Blackburn said.

“She went to hospital. At the same time they decided to do a proper test and that’s where it showed up.”

Mr Williams died in the early hours of Thursday morning, and Mrs Williams’s test came back positive on Thursday afternoon.

Graeme Lake, husband of Ruby Princess victim Karla Lake, has revealed he and other friends on the ship were initially denied tests too.

The Lakes drove to Caboolture Hospital, north of Brisbane, for tests after a close friend on the cruise tested positive. The couple’s neighbours, who were also on the cruise, drove to the hospital for tests at the same time.

“They said we didn’t have enough symptoms. My wife was sitting there and she was coughing,” Mr Lake said.

Mrs Lake, 75, was taken away for testing while the rest were sent home, where they fell ill.

“Every day my neighbour and myself, we both got worse and worse,” Mr Lake said.

Mr Lake, also 75, and his neighbours asked again to be tested. Ultimately, all six people in the group ended up in hospital with the coronavirus.

“Even when I did take myself in they still wanted to know why I wanted to come in, why I wanted testing,” he said.

“I said I wasn’t well. They said it doesn’t mean to say you have to be in here.”

Mrs Lake died at the hospital on Sunday, her husband in isolation in the same room. He has since been released.