Geraldton woman’s warning from COVID-19 hot spot

A Geraldton woman living in the COVID-19 hot spot of Germany has urged Australians to take the threat seriously. Samantha Harris was isolated in her Frankfurt home for nine days after feeling a little sick but chose not to come back to Australia because of the risk of catching the virus while travelling. “I’m definitely not considering coming back to Australia while this is all happening,” the 24-year-old said. “Although our numbers are a lot higher, it is safer for me to stay right where I am rather than possibly coming into contact with someone who has it on the way over and infecting my family.” Germany has become one of the worst-hit European countries and as of April 2 had more than 65,000 confirmed cases of the virus. Miss Harris, who previously lived in Mount Tarcoola, moved to Germany in September last year to live with her partner. “It is a bit tense and we’re going a little crazy having to stay inside but for me personally at the moment it’s not too bad,” she said. “Everyone is very tense. Not knowing when it’s going to end is scary because they’ve said it could take up to 18 months to create a vaccine.” She said watching how quickly the virus spread in Europe was scary and German friends were terrified about the financial impact. “One of my neighbours caught the virus from his daughter who was travelling and unknowingly brought home the virus,” she said. “It hit him so hard that the hospital have now put him into an induced coma,” she said. Sadly, she heard on Monday he had since passed away from the illness. With her family living in Australia, Miss Harris said she was up-to-date on the news but felt Australians were too complacent and not taking the situation seriously enough.