A cruise with a COVID-19 outbreak between the crew and passengers has arrived in New South Wales today as the state government announces a key change to its reinfection policy.
Key points:
- Australian medical director Paul Kelly says new most infectious subvariants feature “another curved ball”
- So far, about 100 people aboard the Coral Princess have tested positive for COVID-19 before docking in NSW
- There are currently 2,049 infected patients in the hospital across the state, with 58 in intensive care
Queensland Health said 118 people aboard the Carnival Australia ship, Coral Princess, had tested positive for the virus since leaving Brisbane on Sunday.
Of these cases, 114 are crew and four are passengers.
The ship, with more than 2,300 guests and crew on board, docked today at Eden on the south coast of NSW, the first cruise ship to return to the city since the COVID-19 closed the industry two years ago.
The ship is also scheduled to be in Sydney for a day on Wednesday.
The Coral Princess docked at Eden this afternoon. (ABC News: Keira Proust)
Queensland Health Director John Gerrard said 24 people with COVID landed in Brisbane and were isolating themselves.
The others are isolating themselves on the ship according to the normal protocol.
Dr. Gerrard said COVID protocols on cruises were “very appropriate.”
“There’s a lot of detail in these protocols and requirements of the cruise industry,” Dr. Gerrard said.
“There is [been] Public health officials and epidemiologists have thought considerably about implementing these protocols.
“Anyone who goes to a cruise store is expected to be up to date with the vaccines.”
Passengers wore masks when disembarking from the cruise. (ABC News: Keira Proust)
Dr. Gerrard said it was “inevitable” that there would be outbreaks on the cruises.
“Keeping this virus out of these ships where there are thousands of people in the middle of a pandemic is extraordinarily difficult.”
A Carnival Australia spokesman said a recent examination found that some crew members recorded positive tests and were isolated away from passengers.
The spokesman said the number of cases identified by Queensland Health was “overwhelmingly among the crew who were isolated on board in accordance with protocols that have effectively supported the resumption of cruises in Australia since May”.
However, one passenger, Wendy, told ABC Brisbane that she tested positive on board and was not informed of positive cases aboard the ship until the night before disembarking in Brisbane.
“That night, my husband started feeling sick, he had chills and now he’s still coughing,” Wendy said.
“I had a terrible night. I’ve been coughing all night. It’s definitely not a dream vacation.”
Wendy said some guests aboard the cruise wore masks, while others did not.
“There were a lot of people coughing, and when we got on, they were coughing in the queue we were waiting for at the cruise terminal,” he said.
The Coral Princess is due to dock in Sydney on Wednesday. (Reuters: Marco Bello)
Wendy said guests were expected to wash their hands before going to the buffet, but the crew was not always there to watch.
“The buffet, incredibly, is still up and running and you serve it yourself,” he said.
“There are tweezers, but if you touch your face or cough, there’s no glass covering the food; I think it should have been canned right away.”
On July 9, a passenger received a letter while on the cruise, alerting him of a COVID outbreak among the crew.
“We would like to notify you of the high number of positive cases among crew members currently aboard the Coral Princess,” the letter said.
“We continue to test all crew members and isolate anyone who gives a positive result along with their close contacts.”
The outbreak comes when NSW Health announced that its official reinfection period was being reviewed from 12 weeks to four weeks, as the latest Omicron subvariants are circulating in the community.
It means that people who develop symptoms at any time after 28 days from their last period of isolation from COVID-19 may have re-infected with the virus and should be tested.
Read more about the spread of COVID-19:
NSW Health Director Kerry Chant said the reduced reinfection period follows the advice of the Australian Main Health Protection Committee.
“Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants are circulating widely in New South Wales,” Dr Chant said.
“They are more able to evade immunity gained from previous infections and vaccination reinfection is more likely and possible a few weeks after a previous infection.”
There are currently 2,049 infected patients at NSW Hospital, with 58 in intensive care.
Wendy and Bruno Lucchese were not deterred by COVID cases on the boat (ABC News: Keira Proust)
A Carnival Cruises spokesman said he had asked his passengers landing in Eden today to wear a mask when needed and to take the local community into account.
Wendy and Bruno Lucchese are passengers aboard the Coral Princess and spent the day exploring Eden.
They said Carnival Cruises put them in touch about COVID-19 cases on board before the ship left, but that this did not deter them.
“They emailed us to tell us that some crew members had COVID and if we wanted to cancel we could,” Ms. Lucchese said.
“But we thought we would cancel this one and then do another one and the same thing could happen again.
“You just have to move on with life.”
Barb Westmacott, a local resident and Cruise Eden volunteer, said it was a necessary boost to the city’s economy.
“It simply came to our notice then [them,] it’s been two very long years, ”he said.
“The population doubles every time the boat is in town and that’s great for our local community.”
No crew member will disembark and all passengers disembarking will be asked to return a negative RAT result first.
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Posted 18 hours, 18 hours ago, Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at 12:17 PM, updated 12 hours ago, 12 hours ago, Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at 6:12 AM