One of the Australians still quarantining after being on a hantavirus-striken cruise ship says spending six weeks in isolation will all be worthwhile if it has saved even one person from getting sick or worse, dying.
Peter Marsh, 82, has given a first account from inside Bullsbrook facility, telling ABC News of the moment fear among passengers on the doomed MV Hondius cruise ship escalated following the death of the wife of the rodent-borne virus’ first victim.
“When we heard that the first deceased’s wife had died, there was a huge shock, and everybody began to think, well, maybe this is something that’s catching,” he said.
Mr Marsh was one of six travellers repatriated to Australia on May 15 for a six-week quarantine period at Bullsbrook Centre for National Resilience. A process he describes being immensely grateful for.
At the centre north of Perth, each traveller is subject to daily symptom checks and entitled to two one-hour walking slots each day.
“The first slot’s a bit cold at 6am to 7am. It’s much warmer and sunnier at midday to 1pm,” Mr Marsh explained.
He praised the swift response to the outbreak onboard and the subsequent aptly serious reaction from the Australian Government.
Without both, he suspected the outcome could have been far worse.
“While it’s been somewhat tiresome being locked up for this six-week period, I think that if one person is saved from getting sick, let alone dying, as a result of our quarantining, then it’s all well worthwhile,” he said.
Breaking up the mundanity of his Bullsbrook isolation with bird watching has helped keep him sane.
“Three of us at the centre are keen bird watchers, and so we’ve been sort of semi-competing to see who can get the most birds … I’m on 34 birds that I’ve seen from the centre,” he said.
While the environment initially felt “sterile”, Mr Marsh has come to appreciate the surprising comforts of his quarantine routine, which have been made “infinitely better by the wonderful treatment that we’ve had from the staff here”.
With just four days before the group is released from quarantine, Mr Marsh can’t wait to hug his wife, children and grandchildren, and book himself in for a haircut.
Mr Marsh was one of six people isolating, made up of four Australian citizens, one permanent resident and one New Zealander.
The group flew into Perth from the Netherlands, where they stayed in hotel quarantine for several days while the Government worked to secure a plane, a crew willing to travel with them, and a country to agree to a fuel stop on their return to Australia.
The flight eventually took off from Eindhoven Airport on May 14 and made a refuelling stop at Al Minhad Airbase in the United Arab Emirates before touching down in WA about 11.30am AWST on May 15.
The travellers were among 147 people on board the MV Hondius when a rare case of the Andes strain of hantavirus was detected in Johannesburg on May 2 after a British passenger was evacuated after falling ill.
It came after a 70-year-old Dutch man fell ill on April 6, just five days after the ship departed from Argentina, and died on board.
All passengers were disembarked in the Canary Islands with advice from the World Health Organisation to isolate for the 42-day incubation period.
Three deaths have been recorded from the ship. No ongoing transmission of the virus has been detected.