Straight to the important points that needed saying, emphasising and stressing.

Thank goodness for these dedicated health professionals.

It reminded me of a conversation I had years ago when interviewing, a then-retired, much-loved, respected and most professional Tutor Sister from the Royal Newcastle Hospital.

This was Sister Margaret Camfield. It was many long years since she trained, and I was interviewing her for a history of our RNH Training School.

I asked "Cammy" what nursing meant to her.

"Oh," said Sister, "Nursing gave me a disease, from which I hope never to recover."

Made me think ... how true, dear Sister Camfield - how very true.

Our dedicated frontliners, without knowing it, have this disease - it may be called many things, but mainly this disease is called dedication.

Bless 'em all.

MY son and I arrived from Spain/Dubai on Sunday, March 15 into Sydney airport at 11.45pm.

Upon our landing we were informed that there would be substantial delays because Australian quarantine officers were to check the plane and passengers for possible coronavirus symptoms and that we were to self isolate at home for two weeks.

Five minutes after docking at the air bridge, without any checks, we were promptly disembarking with no questions asked of any passengers.

Upon arrival at the passport check-in counter, we were asked if in the past two weeks we had been in China, Italy or Iran and if not, passports were stamped and we headed straight through.

At the adjacent passport counter, the gentleman there said "no" to the travel questions and informed the passport officer that the lady seated behind him was obviously rather ill and severely coughing with flu-like symptoms.

The officer then provided the gentleman with a pair of latex gloves and a mask with no further questioning of what seat, row or even flight number that he was on and told him he could go through.

It beggars belief that the Prime Minister and his support team, at that point, didn't transfer all the incoming flight passengers to a secluded hotel environment for two weeks given the examples from the Chinese, Italian and Spanish rapid wave-like spread of the disease and again with the Japanese example of the cruise ship passengers' infections.

Considering the history of the spread to date couldn't the cruise ships be left safely off-shore and delivered food and necessities?

At least the country would have been able to minimise and manage the slower spread of the virus.

LIKE many aged pensioners I have maintained my health cover even with rising costs.

I have gold hospital cover for myself to be able to get treatment when I need it most in my later years and have done so for 25 years. Now I am booked for a knee replacement as according to the specialist "it's stuffed" and painkillers do not work any more.

I understand and agree coronavirus patients should be given priority at ICU facilities in all hospitals, both private and public, as announced by the government.

I can wait the expectant six months or more to be operated on, but in a time of sacrifice what about the health funds?

Now one of the major costs is knee, hip, shoulder replacement this decision saves them a fortune also by covering coronavirus costs does not count as the government does that in private hospitals.

Also to add insult to injury they wish to increase their fees, time for them to step up as good company citizens.

SCOTT Morrison is perhaps best described by the line from Sir Walter Scott's novel The heart of the Midlothian that "the hour has come, but not the man". When Australians are looking for strong and decisive leadership, we are stuck with Mr Morrison.

In my opinion, Mr Morrison is in a class of his own when it comes to prevarication. With respect to where Australia must go in combating COVID-19, Morrison seems to me like a dodgy used car salesman trying to offload a clunker, avoiding providing direct answers concerning possible defects and becoming aggressive when his prevarication has failed him. I believe his inability to explain in detail the intended restrictions on business operation has led to utter confusion.

By contrast, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews spoke with clarity and directness about those same issues. Our national leader proudly boasts that he stopped the boats, yet under his watch thousands of passengers from cruise ships were allowed off to mingle with the general public.

IN this climate of social isolation is there anyone who can answer the question about vehicle registration checks? It could be that people and mechanics will not feel comfortable about having someone being in their vehicle or having to get into someone's vehicle to test it for registration purposes.

Can the Roads and Maritime Services use extraordinary sensibility and defer pink slips until this crisis is over? Time will tell, but that time is critically needed now. Help stop the spread with this reasonable action.

SPITTING is a dirty habit at the best of times.

There are many, mostly men, who refuse to use a tissue or handkerchief when they have cold symptoms and instead spit on the ground. Some spit out of habit or to look tough.

Decades ago, trains had pull-down paper cups near a canister of water for thirsty travellers. I was sickened once when I saw some young monkeys pulling down cups, spitting in them then pushing them back into place.

Now, spitting has become the weapon of the disgruntled and similar to squirting or jabbing people with syringes of blood or coloured water.

Being sprayed with someone's body fluids has the potential to cause serious illness or even death. The law needs to come down heavy on it otherwise it could get out of control.

Hindsight is wonderful. Probably the worst comment ever made in this situation was that anyone under 60 had nothing to worry about. In hindsight you can't entirely recover from comments like those. Or can you? I really hope so

IRONIC that the federal government is offering considerably greater entitlements for people now on or applying for Centrelink support. While this is both welcome and warranted, it throws into focus the gross inadequacy of the way below poverty line amounts provided previously. Let's hope that some of this decency continues after the current crisis.

A SUGGESTION from a friend that the Nine Network could replay grand finals and Origin games for the starving NRL footy fans, especially Newcastle's two grand final wins, as quite a number of the Knights' fans were too young or born after 1997.

THE NSW Health Department are criminally responsible for allowing the people off the cruise ships not the Border Force. I suppose some lawyer will start a class action against the Health Department or minister and we'll have a further waste of time and money.

AS my 91st birthday is coming up on April 14 I have decided to do an Olympics on it and defer it to 2021 and then call it my 91st. What a great way to stop the ageing process. But it has a downer as it makes it harder to shoot my age again when they let us back on the course. Bugger

OBVIOUSLY this situation has never been seen before, and hopefully never will be again, but can the journalism show some positives? We hear about how many infected, and unfortunately how many didn't make it, but how many have beaten the bloody thing would be a good stat to mention for optimism

PENSIONERS and low income families depend on your weekly special Woolworths. No weekly specials, what a shame.

I DON'T think it's funny that some businesses are offering a free toilet roll to entice people to buy their products. Obviously they are adding to the shortage.

I WAS thinking of going camping at Easter. I don't know whether to pitch the tent in the front yard or the back yard.

HEWSON'S View, which features in the Newcastle Herald from time to time, appears to have the singular intent of humiliating Scott Morrison. I would have thought that this paper's cartoonists have been doing more than their fair share of that.