With Australians still struggling to comprehend why thousands of passengers were allowed to disembark the Ruby Princess, enabling them to spread COVID-19 to all corners of the country, authorities are now grappling with another problem: what about crew members still on board the ship?
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) estimates thousands of crew members are stranded on board the Ruby Princess and dozens of other cruise liners now anchored off the coast of Australia — many of them foreign workers.
Crikey spoke to the wife of one Filipino worker stuck on board the contaminated Ruby Princess. Speaking anonymously for fear of repercussions for her husband, she said she was worried about him as he had fallen ill and did not know when he would be able to return home.
“The only thing he knows is that the crew members were waiting for the call from head office if they are gonna be sent home or they will stay on board,” she said.
“I’m so worried … Because here in the Philippines the cases of coronavirus are still rising … and we are on a lockdown. We’re not allowed to go outside.”
The woman’s husband has since recovered from a fever, but she believes many crew members are unwell and stuck in their cabins under isolation.
Crikey asked Australian Border Force and Carnival Corp, the company that owns the Ruby Princess, what happens next for the crew members on board the anchored vessels. Both refused to answer questions, with Carnival Corp referring all matters to the industry lobby group, Cruise Lines International Association Australasia.
“All crew continue to be provided for, and on-board medical services are available to monitor and manage crew health,” the group said in a statement. “Any crew illness would be reported and managed in consultation with state health authorities.”
NSW Health failed to respond to Crikey’s questions. It told the Sydney Morning Herald during the week that all ships would be required to report on the health status of their crew, and if any developed acute respiratory symptoms, the ship was required to obtain a swab for COVID-19 testing.
MUA secretary Paul Garrett told Crikey there was a “vacuum of information” about what was happening to stranded workers.
“We’re worried about crew members … These workers are often exploited, underpaid and not treated well. They are employed on ships that don’t even have the Australian flag on them. They’re registered in Panama, or the Bahamas,” he said.
“We’re estimating around 2000 crew members are currently stuck off the Sydney coast. Their future at the moment is unknown.”
Garrett said the scale of the problem was significant and urged the government to take action.
“We want the government to go on board these ships and put in place a real plan to address this issue.”
Nowhere among all the people quoted or organisations which refused to respond are there any hints at what the solution might be. The longer it goes on the worse it will become and harder to deal with. I would guess the sick ones should go into quarantine somewhere and the rest isolated until the critical period has passed.
Oh dear. Still outrage and no concept of the bigger picture. 4000 people on a massive floating petri dish. The sooner the passengers were off the ship the less everyone on board would be infecting each other. Whoopdi F***ing Doo, there were some on board with the virus. 150 passengers with the virus means probably 15 ICU admissions. That’s JUST 15 ICU admissions, and one is already accounted for and her bed now returned to the pool. Leave them on board and it will spread like it did on her sister ship the Diamond Princess probably until 80% of the total complement is infected. That means something like 3,200 infected. And 320 ICU beds. What were authorities going to do when people on board started getting sick? Order the captain to set sail and dump the bodies at sea? No, those people when they got sick would have to have been taken off the ship ANYWAY. People of Sydney take note – after all those people are in ICU there are stuff all ICU beds left in Sydney for the rest of you, you’re now going to die. See why they wanted them all off now? To save lives, and save what is now the most valuable resource on the planet – ICU beds. So the decision to take the passengers off, the What and the Why, was perfectly reasonable.
The How was a total omnishambles, the people who organised this should have their card stamped with an order that says “TOTAL TWAT”. It points out the fundamental disconnect between state and federal authorities who clearly did not get together to plan anything. This is utterly inexcusable, look at how WA has handled the same situation.
The right way to do it would have been the hotel solution now hit upon, with swabs taken on all, and temperatures tested. Not hard to work out really. Whose at fault? Who cares. Just get the various levels working on this together or this will keep happening.
Well said Jackson, your comment in regards to it being an “omnishambles” well said & to the point..
Having said all this with the whole finger pointing, blame shifting between departments just goes to show the weaknesses in the NSW Health system, these have always been there, but they’re far more evident in these current times..