Coronavirus: Ruby Princess passengers ‘kept in dark’ on virus

The Lakes had no hint the Ruby Princess would be at the centre of one of Australia’s worst coronavirus outbreaks.

Facebook picture of Graeme and Karla Lake, who were aboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship. Karla has passed away after contracting COVID19.

Graeme and Karla Lake were veterans of 25 cruises to exotic locations around the world, so knew the drill when passengers fell ill.

But on the Ruby Princess, the Lakes had no hint this “jewel of the sea” would be at the centre of one of Australia’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, linked to hundreds of infections and at least five deaths.

While the Lakes and two other couples — all close friends from Caboolture, north of Brisbane — met for lunches, dinners and to play cards on board, a lethal disease was spreading around them.

After disembarking at Circular Quay on March 19 and returning home, all six friends would wind up in hospital with COVID-19.

By Tuesday this week, at least 440 Ruby Princess passengers had tested positive. An untold number of others — family members, friends and strangers — have been put at risk in a health disaster that is still unfolding.

Among the five people known to have died was Ms Lake, who was on the cruise to celebrate her 75th birthday. Her husband is now demanding­ answers from Princess Cruises, accusing it of covering up the fact that there were sick passengers to avoid a costly delay.

Sister ship the Diamond Princess had previously been held up in quarantine in Japan for more than two weeks with passengers and crew aboard due to positive corona­virus tests.

“The normal procedure is, if someone’s sick you hear about it and you’re not allowed to touch the food, the salt and pepper, everything, all those things, to keep it hygienically clean,” Mr Lake told The Australian from his room at Caboolture Hospital on Wednesday. “But at no time during­ the cruise did we know that any sickness was on there, so we kept saying ‘this ship’s fine’.

“I got my stepson to pick us up at the airport and I said to him: ‘You don’t have to worry, there’s no sickness on the ship.’

“Not once did the doctors or anyone come over and say, ‘look, there’s a couple of people sick’, or ‘just be careful’. It was just kept completely hush.”

The Lakes and their friends were among more than 2700 people allowed to disembark while coronavirus tests were pending. Passengers dispersed throughout Australia and overseas. Two have died in Tasmania, one in NSW and one in the ACT.

Ms Lake died at Caboolture Hospital at 2am on Sunday, while isolated in a room with her husband, who praised her as selfless and community-minded.

“This is the worst. She was such a lovely lady,” Mr Lake said.

His wife had underlying health conditions, including Parkinson’s disease. She told her sister she thought she contracted the virus from a cabin crew member who appeared to have a cold.

Mr Lake said there was no warning passengers were at risk. “All Princess was interested in, to me, was getting the people off. It completely stinks. They’ve got a hell of a lot to answer for.”