‘There are so many unknowns at the moment’: Ex-Today newsreader Tracy Vo reveals the rare health condition behind her decision to stay in Perth during the COVID-19 pandemic
Newsreader Tracy Vo has spoken about her father’s health condition that forced her to make the tough decision to quit the Today show.
The Vietnamese-Australian journalist, 37, has relocated from Sydney to Perth to care for her elderly parents during the coronavirus pandemic.
She was particularly worried about her 64-year-old father, whom she affectionately calls ‘Pa Vo’, because he has a rare autoimmune disease called Morvan’s syndrome.
Scroll down for video
‘He needs extra precautions’: Newsreader Tracy Vo has spoken about her father’s health condition that forced her to make the tough decision to quit the Today show
Tracy told 9Now: ‘Despite the fact he’s quite young, dad falls into the vulnerable category. He has had some aches and pains last week, but doctors are keeping a good eye on him.
‘We’re not trying to be alarmist – but the GP has written a letter saying he needs extra precautions.
‘He needs infusions every month, to keep up his white blood cells and we’re having to isolate both mum and dad in case they get [COVID-19].’
Tracy said she wanted to be in the same city as her family to ‘keep an eye on everything’ until the global health crisis is over.
She added: ‘There is so many unknowns at the moment, for me and many other Australians, the main thing for me is to be with family.’
Family first: The Vietnamese-Australian journalist, 37, has relocated from Sydney to Perth to care for her elderly parents during the coronavirus pandemic. Pictured at home on Tuesday
Tracy announced this week she was returning to Perth to be closer to her parents, just four months after moving to Sydney to join Nine’s breakfast program.
Multiple sources say she took advantage of a clause in her contract that gave her the option to return to Nine News Perth within six months if she ‘wasn’t happy’ at Today.
She is believed to have made the decision after feeling increasingly isolated from her family in Western Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One insider said: ‘Tracy never gunned for the job. She was headhunted and brought out from Perth. Word is they begged her to take it.
‘Everybody at Nine, including [head of news] Darren Wick, thinks she’s great, and they were all confident she would stay in Sydney after her first six months.’
Another source said: ‘She’s very popular at Nine and well-liked in Perth – which is partly why they put her on Today, to try and attract more viewers from there.’
But Tracy supposedly had trouble ‘settling in’ after arriving in Sydney in January and told colleagues she feared she ‘couldn’t hack it’ on the Today show.
A third source said: ‘Tracy never settled in Sydney. She is very family orientated, and her family is in Perth. She was living in temporary accommodation and hadn’t signed a lease, which suggests she always had Perth in the back of her mind.’
Tracy is said to have ‘freaked out’ as the coronavirus pandemic worsened and state borders closed, prompting her decision to return home.
One source said: ‘The person doing her old job [at Nine News Perth] was only temporary, so she asked to go back to that, and Nine allowed her to.’
Another added: ‘She went to Perth for a holiday, but COVID-19 blew up and then it became a more permanent thing to transfer back to the Perth newsroom.’
Daily Mail Australia understands Tracy may eventually return to the Today show, but if she does ‘it will be her decision’.