COCK-UPS, COVER-UPS AND CONSPIRACIES

Our journey to this week’s tragic COVID-19 figures can be tracked in 10 lethal missteps, writes Jane Hansen

Eight months ago we had never heard of COVID19. This week the state of Victoria is suffering under the most draconian restrictions ever imposed in Australia, and NSW and other states are on high alert, having closed their borders again as a result of its rapid-fire spread .

Australia yesterday had recorded 20, 272 cases of the deadly virus and has seen 266 deaths.

Victoria reported 450 new cases yesterday, with 13, 867 cases in total. NSW on Friday had 11 new cases with 3653 in total.

So how and why did we get to this? Communication failures, bureaucratic bungling, stupidity, selfishness and plain old-fashioned lies have proven a lethal combination as Australia has navigated 10 deadly COVID-19 milestones.

1 The Ruby Princess

Cruise ships were identified early as floating petri dishes for the virus, but the first fatal error with the Ruby Princess was the mistaken belief by health authorities that the ship was low risk on account that it had only travelled between Australian and New Zealand. But many of the 2700 passengers had flown in from countries, including the UK and the US which already had community transmission.

The day before the ship docked on March 19, cases in NSW had just hit the 300 mark and by the end of April, one in 10 cases in Australia would be linked to the ill-fated cruise ship.

While hundreds of passengers were displaying symptoms of “acute respiratory disease”, documents submitted to the inquiry revealed the Ruby Princess only had 10 COVID-19 swabs available before it docked.

The limited swabs were taken off the ship at 3am when it docked but the results were not processed until 8am on March 20 by which time positive passengers had caught planes home to all Australian states, leading to more than 650 cases and 22 deaths in Australia.

Rona Dobrin, 75, and Michael Dobrin, 82, of Bellevue Hill both tested positive for COVID-19 after their Ruby Princess cruise. Even with confirmed COVID19 cases on March 20, no one contacted them and it was up to them to pursue testing which they demanded at St Vincent’s Hospital on Saturday, March 21.

“We weren’t asked to, we’d heard rumours and thought ‘let’s go and be checked’ and Saturday night we got the phone call ‘you’re positive’. Well you could have knocked me over with a feather, I could not believe it, it was a shock to the system, we had no idea,” Rona Dobrin said.

A total of 373 passengers in NSW tested positive with 18 secondary cases. Two Ruby Princess passengers who landed in northwest Tasmania led to a total of 114 people infected and two deaths.

A third passenger died in Hobart and another 19 cases linked to the Ruby Princess spread across Tasmania. Two passengers, aged 74 and 62, died in Adelaide, while 78 other passengers tested positive and nine others were recorded as secondary infections. Three passengers also died in Queensland.

2 Returned travellers

The sole source of coronavirus in the early days came from returned travellers, but it was clear by mid-March that some were not obeying self-isolation directions. The Aspen 9, as the blue bloods returning from their annual snow soiree became known, contracted the virus at a swish party held on March 2 at the Aspen apartment owned by FlexiGroup founder and Liberal Party powerbroker Andrew Abercrombie and wife Shadda.

A Melbourne couple infected at the party were supposed to quarantine on their return at their property in Portsea but they allegedly visited shops in Sorrento, played golf and even attended a Geelong Grammar cocktail party.

Federal health Minister Greg Hunt slammed the couple. “In my view, that’s a disgrace … the police should feel free to throw the book at them.”

A mass outbreak in Noosa on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast was linked to another wealthy businesswoman who returned from Aspen and attended a private function at Sails Restaurant on March 14, after which 24 guests, including four staff were struck down with the virus. The Bellevue Hill private school set also finger-pointed at some of the Aspen returnees.

With 3000 cases confirmed by March 27, 14 days of hotel quarantine was enforced at the taxpayer’s expense to curtail selfish behaviour.

3 Bondi backpackers and beach lovers

While everyone was being urged to conduct social distancing in March, Bondi’s beach lovers ignored the advice and congregated in enormous numbers on Australia’s most famous beach.

While they were at it, young, asymptomatic backpackers were partying and passing the virus around.

In mid-March two Sydney nightclubs were linked to 34 cases of COVID-19 among backpackers.

4 Newmarch House and Aged Care

On April 14, a health care worker at the Anglicare Newmarch House aged care facility in Caddens tested positive and worked while infectious. Her symptoms were mild. The outbreak lasted three months and claimed the lives of 19 residents. A major fault was management’s failure to send infected patients to hospital.

At Dorothy Henderson Lodge, 80