Guide speaks of virus trauma days after husband enters care
A Hawke’s Bay tour guide infected as part of the Ruby Princess cruise-ship coronavirus cluster has described the trauma of discovering she had the virus just days after putting her husband in dementia care.
Her husband, who was in the Gladys Mary Rest Home in Napier, also contracted the virus and was forced to move back in with her to isolate from other residents. Subsequently five other people at the rest home have tested positive.
The guide, who does not wish to be identified, said the past few weeks had been a traumatic period for her and her family.
‘‘When a friend rang me to say passengers from the ship had tested positive in Australia and asked how I felt I said, ‘Well actually, I’ve been a bit sick,’ and went to have a test,’’ she said.
‘‘I wasn’t bad at all, really. I’d had a day of achy bones and a bit of a sore throat and a cough. I kept it at bay,’’ she said.
The woman was one of 16 people infected with the novel coronavirus in the Ruby Princess cluster of cases, which also includes a local bus driver, two others involved in the tours, the six rest home residents, and six New Zealanders who were passengers on the ship.
The woman also backed the prime minister’s call for a review that would ascertain whether the company and crew of the Ruby Princess fulfilled all legal obligations on its visit to New Zealand.
She said that on March 15 she had accompanied a group of
A tour guide who tested positive, along with her husband, for the coronavirus
‘‘For me, my two weeks in isolation has been easy. But none of this has been easy for him.’’
passengers on a bus around Hawke’s Bay when the ship was berthed in Napier.
‘‘We had no idea anyone on the bus was sick. We had a great time, everybody was happy, then we said ‘See you later.’ It wasn’t until a week later that things turned to custard,’’ she said.
Two days after the ship’s visit she had moved her husband into the rest home.
She was tested on March 22, and found out she was infected with the virus on March 24.
‘‘Of course he was a high risk there and he needed to be isolated. He had just moved there and that would have been terrible for him,’’ she said. ‘‘This has been so hard for him. He couldn’t eat or drink for three days . . . For me, my two weeks in isolation has been easy. But none of this has been easy for him.’’
She said she had no idea she had the virus for nearly a week after the ship’s visit.
Class action
The Ruby Princess cruise ship visited New Zealand between March 11 and March 15, stopping in Fiordland, Dunedin, Akaroa, Wellington and Napier.
The ship was to have visited Tauranga and the Bay of Islands but instead returned to Sydney early. Passengers were allowed to disembark and return home or to wherever they pleased.
Many were carrying the virus, and the ship is now regarded as the single largest cause of Covid19 in Australia. At least 662 people linked to the cruise have been diagnosed with Covid-19, and at least 11 have died.
A class action against Carnival Cruises is being investigated by lawyers in Australia.
Shine Lawyers is taking the action. It said passengers were not advised of the risk and were not monitored for symptoms.
Lawyer Vicky Antzoulatos told Stuff that the action was prompted by passengers who contacted her law firm.
She said anyone who was a passenger on the cruise was eligible to register their interest in the class action. There were 56 New Zealanders on the cruise.
Antzoulatos said the firm may consider whether those infected through secondary contact, such as the tour guide, could join the class action.
‘‘But that would be a much different claim to the one we are looking at now,’’ she said.