When Dr Peter Stiebel left for a ski holiday in the US in early March, he thought the snowfields would keep him safe from the dreaded virus that was ravaging China, Italy and Iran. It wasn’t until the plane trip home that he realised he was wrong.

I was on a flight back from the US after a week-long holiday at a ski resort in Aspen when I started getting very mild upper respiratory symptoms.

Ordinarily, I would have just ignored it. I didn’t feel sick. But I met the testing criteria, and the backlash another Melbourne GP had recently received was at the forefront of my mind.

Just 10 days earlier, Dr Chris Higgins had made headlines for treating more than 70 patients while he had cold-like symptoms for which he later tested COVID-19 positive.