NSW Health considered testing all cruise ship passengers for coronavirus was 'very much overkill' a month before the Ruby Princess debacle, according to emails tendered at an inquiry today | sallyrawsthorne
The Ruby Princess cruise ship, which was the source of hundreds of Australia's coronavirus cases, departs Port Kembla.On February 8, cruise ships had the world's second-largest incidence of COVID-19 infections after mainland China, the inquiry heard.
"These emails reflected that we were taking it very seriously as a major cause for concern for NSW. We were investing a lot of effort ... to best manage the risk from cruise ships. Although we understood cruise ships were always a risk of infectious disease ... the Diamond Princess experience made us all very aware of the risk," chief human biosecurity officer Dr Sean Tobin said in giving evidence on Tuesday.
In one email, Professor Ferson said it was "very much overkill" for passengers on all ships to be tested. In another, he said if a test came back negative and a passenger was subsequently diagnosed with COVID-19 “we will be asked why we missed a case and it will look worse for everyone.” Discussing the risk of an outbreak on board a cruise ship, Commissioner Bret Walker SC said while the risks are "numerically small ... in human terms [are] very important. Materialisation of the risk will include some deaths that could have been avoided."The most important news, analysis and insights delivered to your inbox at the start and end of each day. Sign up to
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