Coronavirus: Toorak, South Yarra and Portsea cop COVID-19 hit
Acrimony breaks out after Australian skiers returning from US are accused of spreading virus.
Melbourne socialites have exploded in acrimony over the COVID-19 outbreak enveloping the city’s wealthiest suburbs, after Australian skiers returning from Colorado were accused of clumsily spreading the killer virus.
New data shows the wealthiest suburbs, including Toorak, South Yarra and Portsea, are at the centre of the coronavirus spread in Victoria, coming after an ill-fated ski season in Aspen that was marred by the outbreak that infected many Australians.
While the source of the spread in Victoria has not been pinpointed, at least five Geelong Grammar parents contracted the virus at a cocktail party for a Timbertop family earlier this month; a boarder also has it.
It also has spread to others via a 21st birthday party and been blamed for potentially dozens of cases across Melbourne’s wealthy inner east and southeast.
Of the 520 confirmed cases in Victoria, 93 are in the wealthy local government areas of Stonnington and Mornington Peninsula.
In NSW, the most affluent areas of Sydney account for more than half of the state’s 1219 confirmed cases.
The trendy eastern suburbs, a focal point of national scorn after hundreds flocked to Bondi Beach last week, have since recorded 319 cases of COVID-19 infections, as of Tuesday. The inner city accounts for 91 cases, and there are 247 cases on the north shore.
Melbourne’s Stonnington covers Toorak, South Yarra, Armadale and Malvern; the Mornington Peninsula includes Portsea and Sorrento. It is the Toorak-Portsea set that frequents Aspen each year in the northern winter.
Victoria Police refused to say yesterday if it was investigating two socialites staying in Portsea for not properly isolating after they returned to Australia. Individuals face fines of up to $20,000 each if they don’t take steps to prevent the virus spreading.
More than a dozen Australians are reported to have contracted the virus in Aspen and the fallout has spread rapidly in Melbourne, affecting potentially hundreds of people. It has also sparked recriminations focused on the wealthy businessman and his fashion industry partner who sought refuge in Portsea.
The businessman did not respond to The Australian, but the woman told the Herald Sun: “We are the responsible ones in this; people have nothing better to do than be nasty. If we lived in Box Hill and I’d been to Bali, no one would care, would they?’’
The Australian has been told it is possible multiple people have spread the coronavirus in Melbourne after returning from skiing holidays. It has forced many into quarantine and led to a blame game focused on the Portsea couple. “It’s an absolute disgrace. People could die and those selfish bastards did nothing to stop it,’’ one local said.
Aspen is a popular northern winter destination for well-heeled Australians and it has been widely reported a party was hosted there by former Victorian Liberal treasurer Andrew Abercrombie. It is believed a child of one of the guests contracted COVID-19.
Mr Abercrombie, who has been tested twice, has not had the virus but still self-isolated on return to his Melbourne home.
Department of Health and Human Services data shows the coronavirus has become a rich person’s illness in Victoria, with 57 cases in Stonnington, 36 in Mornington, 32 in Melbourne and 29 in Boroondara.
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