Ruby Princess coronavirus deaths to be subject of criminal investigation Australia homicide squad

[Flying is for Planes]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-05/ruby-princess-cruise-coronavirus-deaths-investigated-nsw-police/12123212


 

Police have launched a criminal investigation into whether the operator of the Ruby Princess downplayed potential coronavirus cases before thousands of passengers disembarked in Sydney last month.

Key points:

• A 17-minute triple-0 call was made from the vessel the day before passengers disembarked in Sydney
• Police said Carnival Australia said COVID-19 was not an issue on the vessel
• Nearly 200 crew who are still on board are showing symptoms of COVID-19

 

Eleven passengers have died from COVID-19 since the vessel docked at Circular Quay on March 19 — the latest being a 78-year-old who died in Queensland earlier this afternoon.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said there were "many unanswered questions" about the cruise, which was operated by Carnival Australia.

"There seems to be absolute discrepancies between the information provided by Carnival and what I would see as the benchmark for the laws that the Federal Government and the State Government put in place in terms of protecting Australians from cruise ships when coronavirus had started," Commissioner Fuller said.

"The only way I can get to the bottom of whether our national biosecurity laws and our state laws were broken is through a criminal investigation."

 

[icat2000]

But explosive phone calls between Ruby Princess officials, NSW Port Authorities and NSW Ambulance officers, who were called to help ill passengers, reveal the debacle could have easily been avoided.

 

In fact the NSW Port Authority initially told the ship's captain not to dock as planned because of concerns passengers had COVID-19, before a midnight phone call that changed everything, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8188271/Ruby-Princess-cruise-ship-coronavirus-phone-calls-leaked.html

 

Things don't add up. I'm sure heads will roll. 

Edited April 5, 2020 by icat2000

[caribill]

A new article on the subject:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-09-15/carnival-s-ruby-princess-cruise-ship-spread-coronavirus-around-the-world

[Ronnieslady]

2 hours ago, caribill said:

A new article on the subject:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-09-15/carnival-s-ruby-princess-cruise-ship-spread-coronavirus-around-the-world

WOW, what a story!!!      Very informative.

Thanks for posting this.

[brisalta]

The daily fail article is from April and they are not known as a reliable fact based source.

 

"The Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess" published the report that result from their investigation. https://www.rubyprincessinquiry.nsw.gov.au/report/

The report was published in April.

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by brisalta

[Retirement2016]

We were on the Ruby Princess for this cruise to New Zealand.  We did get tested for Covid-19 after returning to California, test came out positive for 3 out of 4 person, but none of us had any symptoms.  We are healthy 68 and 70 year old, plus children 32 and 34 years old.  Interesting to read what actually happened.  

Edited September 15, 2020 by Retirement2016

[brisalta]

9 minutes ago, Retirement2016 said:

We were the Ruby Princess for this cruise.  We did get tested after returning to California, test came out positive for 3 out of 4 person, but none of us had any symptoms.  We are healthy 68 and 70 year old, plus children 32 and 34 years old.  Interesting to read what actually happened.  

 

Where you quarantined when you returned to California?

 

You must be a quick reader if you managed to read the 320 page Special Commission report in less than 5 minutes unless you read it before today. 😉

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by brisalta

[Retirement2016]

We did self quarantine at our home for 14 days. 

 

I read the Bloomberg Businessweek report, not the Special Commission of Inquiry.

[HappyInVan]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

A new article on the subject:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-09-15/carnival-s-ruby-princess-cruise-ship-spread-coronavirus-around-the-world

 

Many thanks for the update.

 

Looks like the disease was circulating on board for several days. Not spread on disembarkation as some had claimed. What the article didn't mention was that the MO had asked several passengers to isolate in their cabins. But, this was not enforced. We know this from the evidence given by the MO and Staff Captain during the inquiry.

 

 

[Aus Traveller]

2 hours ago, HappyInVan said:

 

Many thanks for the update.

Looks like the disease was circulating on board for several days. Not spread on disembarkation as some had claimed. What the article didn't mention was that the MO had asked several passengers to isolate in their cabins. But, this was not enforced. We know this from the evidence given by the MO and Staff Captain during the inquiry.

 

COVID had to be circulating on the Ruby Princess from the start of the cruise. I say that because it was obviously brought on board on the 8th March because there was no virus circulating in NZ for it to be contracted there. The person who inadvertently took it on board, would not have been isolated in their cabin at the start of the cruise (although he/she might have been among those isolated in the last few days). In addition, from the number of passengers infected, it would have been circulating from the start. I don't believe it started with a crew member because of the small number of crew infected even a couple of days AFTER the cruise ended.

 

COVID wasn't circulating in the Australian community by 8th March (and it isn't very much even now except for Victoria). Therefore the virus most likely came with one of the 1,000 or more passengers who came from overseas (mainly USA and UK) to join the cruise. The article 'blames' the Ruby Princess for the virus being spread around the world. This was bad for the individual people, but these countries already had the virus.

[brisalta]

An epidemiological prediction of the spread of the illness by air travel was published January 14, 2020

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7107534/

 

Make what you want of it.

[twangster]

16 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

COVID wasn't circulating in the Australian community by 8th March (and it isn't very much even now except for Victoria). Therefore the virus most likely came with one of the 1,000 or more passengers who came from overseas (mainly USA and UK) to join the cruise. The article 'blames' the Ruby Princess for the virus being spread around the world. This was bad for the individual people, but these countries already had the virus.

 

This is an important concept.  Who is or was patient zero?  The virus wasn't created on the ship, it was carried on board by someone, somewhere.   

 

Did a foreigner bring it to Australia or did an Australian coming home from somewhere who sat next to someone on a plane or on the train or on a bus spread it to someone who then boarded Ruby remains unknown as far as I know.  Was a Ruby guest spending a night in a hotel room that was virus laden and an unsuspecting Ruby guest in the right hotel room at the wrong time get it the night before and then brought it on board?

 

With the celebrations of the Sydney Lunar Festival in February it occurred to me there may have been more travel to/from China in the weeks before the Ruby outbreak.  The Rocks had a street festival with food vendors. Surely there was air travel occurring between China and Australia in mid to late February.

 

 

 

I was on an RCI NZ cruise from Sydney in February watching the first news of the Diamond outbreak on the TV in the cabin as we sailed around NZ and began our return.  At one point on our way back I looked out and saw Ruby sailing past us in the other direction heading to NZ as we passed on our way back to Sydney.  I knew it wasn't the Diamond but with the Princess logo all over the news the ship got my attention.

 

 

People were starting to talking about it on board.  Our lounge concierge was from China.  She had been onboard for months nearing her contract end, sailing from Sydney for months yet she was asked to do temperature checks several times during the cruise.  She was lamenting not being able to go home when her contract ended the following week - her mother had told her not to come home to China, it was too dangerous due to the virus.

 

I debarked in Sydney on Feb. 13.  It was in no way abnormal, not even one question about health issues but I sure knew not to bring any wood from NZ to AU.   Once at the airport as I stood in the check in line a gentleman from some AU agency was going down the line asking questions related to the virus.  Neither he or I had had a mask.    Down the line he went, maskless, taking passport after passport in his gloveless hand, marking them and then passing them back.  No temperature checks,  just "how are you feeling?, any cough?, etc.". 

 

The news on the airport TVs and in the Amex Lounge as I waited to leave Sydney was non-stop virus coverage - on Feb. 13.  Boy was I glad when we took off and even happier when we touched down in Los Angeles.  Phew. Left all that madness behind us.

 

The U.S. was still in denial as I returned but clearly Australian officials knew something was going on, on Feb. 13, weeks before Ruby yet nothing was done.   If I was coughing or expressed symptoms they were prepared to prevent me from leaving Australia on Feb. 13 so how was the virus allowed to arrive "from overseas" after that?

[Aus Traveller]

42 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

This is an important concept.  Who is or was patient zero?  The virus wasn't created on the ship, it was carried on board by someone, somewhere.   

 

Did a foreigner bring it to Australia or did an Australian coming home from somewhere who sat next to someone on a plane or on the train or on a bus spread it to someone who then boarded Ruby remains unknown as far as I know.  Was a Ruby guest spending a night in a hotel room that was virus laden and an unsuspecting Ruby guest in the right hotel room at the wrong time get it the night before and then brought it on board?

 

With the celebrations of the Sydney Lunar Festival in February it occurred to me there may have been more travel to/from China in the weeks before the Ruby outbreak.  The Rocks had a street festival with food vendors. Surely there was air travel occurring between China and Australia in mid to late February.

 

The U.S. was still in denial as I returned but clearly Australian officials knew something was going on, on Feb. 13, weeks before Ruby yet nothing was done.   If I was coughing or expressed symptoms they were prepared to prevent me from leaving Australia on Feb. 13 so how was the virus allowed to arrive "from overseas" after that?

It is unlikely that an Australian flew into the country on 7th or 8th March and contracted the infection on an international flight. Most people wouldn't fly home one day and leave on an international cruise the next day. It is also unlikely that someone who boarded the Ruby contracted the infection on a train or bus just prior to boarding because there was no virus spreading in the community at that time. Even now, it is only in Victoria where there is a problem. It can't have been a Ruby guest spending a "night in a hotel room that was virus laden" because the virus was not spreading in the community and would not have contaminated a hotel room unless it was an overseas guest who contaminated the room that was then occupied by a person (Aussie or overseas guest) boarding the Ruby the next day.

 

The virus didn't come in from a visitor from China. People who arrived from China in January were checked and a couple of people in a tour group were put into quarantine. Australia banned arrivals from China from 1st February. If someone with the virus arrived from China in January, there would have been community transmission by 8th March when the relevant Ruby Princess cruise started.

 

You say that "Australian officials knew something was going on, on Feb 13". I thought the whole world knew something was going on.🙂 We were on the Sea Princess from 23rd Feb to 8th March and while we were away, a lot of products were stripped from supermarket shelves. The Australian government was alert from early January and there were enough reports in the media, that the public was also aware of the virus from January.

 

You ask "how was the virus allowed to arrive from overseas after Feb 13". The only explanation is that the person or persons were asymptomatic at the time they arrived and they may have remained virtually asymptomatic while they were spreading the virus on the Ruby. We don't know who that person was and it probably doesn't help matters to have the person identified. I cannot imagine how someone would feel if they were shown to be patient zero.

[twangster]

2 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

It is unlikely that an Australian flew into the country on 7th or 8th March and contracted the infection on an international flight. Most people wouldn't fly home one day and leave on an international cruise the next day. It is also unlikely that someone who boarded the Ruby contracted the infection on a train or bus just prior to boarding because there was no virus spreading in the community at that time. Even now, it is only in Victoria where there is a problem. It can't have been a Ruby guest spending a "night in a hotel room that was virus laden" because the virus was not spreading in the community and would not have contaminated a hotel room unless it was an overseas guest who contaminated the room that was then occupied by a person (Aussie or overseas guest) boarding the Ruby the next day.

 

The virus didn't come in from a visitor from China. People who arrived from China in January were checked and a couple of people in a tour group were put into quarantine. Australia banned arrivals from China from 1st February. If someone with the virus arrived from China in January, there would have been community transmission by 8th March when the relevant Ruby Princess cruise started.

 

You say that "Australian officials knew something was going on, on Feb 13". I thought the whole world knew something was going on.🙂 We were on the Sea Princess from 23rd Feb to 8th March and while we were away, a lot of products were stripped from supermarket shelves. The Australian government was alert from early January and there were enough reports in the media, that the public was also aware of the virus from January.

 

You ask "how was the virus allowed to arrive from overseas after Feb 13". The only explanation is that the person or persons were asymptomatic at the time they arrived and they may have remained virtually asymptomatic while they were spreading the virus on the Ruby. We don't know who that person was and it probably doesn't help matters to have the person identified. I cannot imagine how someone would feel if they were shown to be patient zero.

 

In Sydney when I arrived late January there was no virus news on local TV coverage.  "Hot Weather" and "Wildfires" was the news.  

 

No one talked about the virus until I saw it on international news once aboard the ship several days after departing on Feb. 2.  Watching ABC in my hotel before boarding they only covered the fires at least what I saw. 

 

I don't see how AU contact tracers can be so sure the virus could only possibly come from a guest arriving internationally and quickly boarding the Ruby.  If patient zero was asymptomatic as you suggest, could the seed patient not have been in Australia before Ruby guest arrived?

[Aus Traveller]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

 

In Sydney when I arrived late January there was no virus news on local TV coverage.  "Hot Weather" and "Wildfires" was the news.  

 

No one talked about the virus until I saw it on international news once aboard the ship several days after departing on Feb. 2.  Watching ABC in my hotel before boarding they only covered the fires at least what I saw. 

 

I don't see how AU contact tracers can be so sure the virus could only possibly come from a guest arriving internationally and quickly boarding the Ruby.  If patient zero was asymptomatic as you suggest, could the seed patient not have been in Australia before Ruby guest arrived?

I am surprised you heard nothing about Corona-virus (as it was then called) on Australian news before your cruise on Feb 2. There were regular news reports about the new virus in Wuhan. The world-wide situation was changing rapidly throughout February and it was only after February 5th that the problem on the Diamond Princess first hit the news.

 

If the Ruby Princess infection originated from an asymptomatic person living in Australia, surely they would have infected a lot of people, not just one person who was going on the Ruby. There was still no community infection in Sydney during March.