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Losing four family and friends to the COVID-19 pandemic has strengthened the resolve of a Mackay registered nurse to keep colleagues and the community safe.
Not only did Sonia Davids experience the devastating reality of COVID-19, she also spent three months stranded in lockdown in South Africa at the start of the pandemic last year.
As the newly appointed Mackay Hospital and Health Service nurse unit manager in charge of rolling out COVID-19 vaccination, Ms Davids is on a mission to ensure healthcare workers have access to the jab.
Ms Davids could never have imagined a three-week holiday to visit family and friends near Port Shepstone in South Africa would turn into months of lockdown and two weeks of mandatory quarantine in Perth.
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Subscriber only Exactly a year ago Mackay faced one of its biggest challenges since war time as the first confirmed COVID-19 case spread fear through the community. On March 16 2020, news broke that a UK tourist had defied health orders and flown to Hamilton Island after being diagnosed with COVID-19 in Sydney. The woman was found on a Hamilton Island beach after NSW Health authorities alerted their Queensland counterparts. She was isolated on the island and transferred to Mackay Base Hospital. It is understood the woman s tourist visa was later cancelled and she was slapped with an exclusion penalty meaning she would not be able to return to Australia for three years.