Coronavirus: Ruby Princess passenger denied Covid test

Some passengers on board the Ruby Princess cruise ship were denied testing for COVID-19 after they disembarked.

Cruise liner the Ruby Princess. Picture: AFP

Some passengers on board the Ruby Princess cruise ship were ­denied testing for COVID-19 after they disembarked from the vessel because they were not showing symptoms of the disease, an inquiry heard on Monday.

William Wright, who travelled on board the Ruby Princess with his wife, said he was tested for the virus three days after the ship docked on March 19. His wife was not able to be tested upon request at Wollongong Hospital.

Mr Wright was one of several passengers giving evidence to a special commission of inquiry ­examining the circumstances surrounding the Ruby Princess’s ­arrival in Sydney on March 19, and the disembarkation of nearly 4000 passengers and crew members. The passengers and crew were permitted to leave while COVID-19 test results were still pending in a government laboratory. The ship subsequently became the largest single source of the novel coronavirus in Australia, resulting in more than 700 passengers contracting the virus and more than 20 dying.

The Wrights had been travelling with Henry Karpik, who was confirmed as a coronavirus patient soon after the ship arrived. Mr Karpik had been diagnosed with influenza A while on board the ship and later spent six weeks on a ventilator in hospital, during which time his wife was told to ­“expect the worst”.

Because they were close contacts, the Wrights’ volunteered to be tested themselves.

On March 22, Mr Wright attended Wollongong Hospital with his wife after reporting a runny nose and a light cough. He was taken away to be screened but his wife was not able to do the same.

“They said she didn’t have any symptoms so they wouldn’t test her,” Mr Wright told the hearing.

“Were they aware that both of you had been in close contact with Mr Karpik, who had tested positive?” asked Richard Beasley SC, counsel assisting the inquiry.

“I had mentioned that to them,” said Mr Wright, “and I was quite annoyed because my wife was booked in for breast surgery on the third of April, and I thought it would be the right thing to do to be tested so we would know if she was positive or not so she could have her operation.”

Mr Wright and his wife ultimately tested positive for the virus.

Another passenger, Josephine Roope, told of how her friend, Lesley Bacon, began to feel extremely unwell while on board the cruise ship and sought assistance from the ship’s medical centre.

“She could hardly talk,” said Ms Roope. “She was dry and croaky. She just said ‘I don’t feel good’. ­Another staff member kept saying, ‘It’s only the flu, it’s only the flu’.”

Lesley Bacon was one of two passengers taken off the ship immediately after it docked to be taken to hospital. Her husband was charged $5401 by the ship for the cost of the medical treatment, which Ms Roope said she had helped to pay. Within a week, Lesley Bacon became the first Ruby Princess passenger to die as a result of the novel coronavirus.

The inquiry will continue on Tuesday.