Broadcaster Steve Price has opened up about his heartbreak at being separated from his 87-year-old mother during the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking on The Project show, Melbourne-based Mr Price said he had not seen his mother since February due to COVID-19 restrictions.
His mother lives in South Australia, he said, and had “gone downhill” following news of the state’s growing COVID-19 cluster this week.
“I’ve had to have a very difficult conversation again today,” he said on the TV show.
“Yesterday I gave my mother a date.
“I said, I will be there on the 10th of December in the car to pick you up after not seeing you since February.
“She’s 87, she can’t fly in a plane, she can’t drive herself.
“We may get shut out again,” he said, referring to the changing border arrangements in light of the SA cluster.
“She said this morning, ‘OK, I’m just going to have Christmas Day on my own. I won’t make the Christmas cake ‘cos there’ll be no-one here to eat it’.
“I’m not being overdramatic — I really felt this morning that she’d gone downhill badly because of this news. And imagine how many other South Australians are in that boat tonight? It’s a bastard of a thing, this COVID.”
South Australia has 20 coronavirus cases currently, with 17 linked to one large family in the state, and five new cases confirmed this morning.
Long queues are forming at testing sites across South Australia again this morning, with residents waiting around three hours to get tested for the virus.
