CAUGHT ON VIRUS SHIP

Toowoomba couple rarely apart until …

KERRIE and Rob Rule have not spent more than two nights apart over the past 40 years.

But now Mr Rule is in isolation at a Japanese hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus, while Mrs Rule has started a second round of quarantine at a former mining camp in the Northern Territory.

The Rangeville couple had spent two weeks in quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess.

They were preparing to board a plane to Australia when doctors discovered Mr Rule was ill.

IN THE past 40 years, Kerrie and Rob Rule have not spent more than two nights apart.

Sadly, that record will fall after Rob was diagnosed with coronavirus on Tuesday.

The Rangeville couple had spent two weeks in quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess and were preparing to board a plane to Australia when doctors discovered Rob was ill.

“It is the not knowing that is harrowing,” Mrs Rule said.

Rather than fly home, Mr Rule was transferred to a hospital in Japan, while Mrs Rule started a second round of quarantine in a former mining camp at Howards Creek in the Northern Territory.

“There are lots of cases where people have the virus but do not get sick,” she said.

“The hardest part is we do not know if Rob will be one of those people.”

The couple is hopeful he will be cleared soon.

Mrs Rule said her husband did not have a temperature and was feeling fine when she departed.

“The doctors will test Rob every day,” Mrs Rule said.

“If he gets two negative results, they will send him home.

“There is a chance he will get home before I do.”

Despite being confined to their cabin for two weeks, Mrs

Rule enjoyed her time in quarantine – for the most part.

“Luckily, I really like Rob,” she said.

“We were doing Tai Chi, learning to fold napkins and we invented a few games, like indoor cricket using rolled up alfoil and slipper.”

Mrs Rule is one of 20 people at the Howards Creek quarantine with a partner who tested positive for coronavirus.

They are in a separate quarantine from the 160 other Australians who flew into Australia on Wednesday.

Having been locked in a cabin together for two weeks increased the chance she contracted the virus.

It is a thought Mrs Rule does not dwell on.

“There is nothing I can do about it,” she said.

“If I am going to get it, then I will get, but it is not an experience I would wish on anyone.”