COVID-19 PROTECTION

Flashback to 1918. The Spanish flu came into Australia via returning World War 1 soldiers. The precise source of first known infection — in Melbourne 1918 — was never discovered. However, once in Australia, the flu rapidly escaped a quarantine system whose efficacy relied on the honesty of ship medical officers and captains to volunteer past or present cases on board and the willingness of returned soldiers to self-report and voluntarily isolate themselves.

Now, flashforward to the returning Ruby Princess cruise ship that docked in Sydney on March 19, following an exemption made by the Australian government allowing them to disembark without testing or health monitoring. In this case, an email from the ship’s master on March 8 had stated there were “no ill passengers or crew on board” even though to date there have been