Coronavirus updates: 2 evacuated from Grand Princess; tales of parenting in confinement
Two passengers were evacuated Saturday morning off the stricken Grand Princess cruise ship, which has been held off the coast of Northern California after 21 of its passengers tested positive for coronavirus, according to news reports.
Princess Cruises said Saturday morning that “a critically ill U.S. guest and their travel companion were medically disembarked from Grand Princess earlier this morning by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter.” The company said they are being transported to an area hospital, but provided no further details.
The rest of the 3,531 passengers and crew are still awaiting an official announcement about plans to leave the ship, which has 20 remaining passengers aboard who have tested positive for the new coronavirus.
On Friday night, Coast Guard helicopters flew supplies to the ship, which is idling 20 miles off the coast of San Mateo County “for logistical purposes,” according to company officials.
The company, which is operated by Miami-based Carnival, confirmed that “personal protective equipment (PPE), which included gloves and face masks, was delivered to Grand Princess by U.S. Coast Guard helicopter” to supplement supplies already onboard.
The age ranges for the 21 who have tested positive are: Three passengers ages 21 to 29 years old; four people who are 30 to 39; six who are 40 to 49; six who are 50 to 59; one who is between 60 and 69; and one between 70 and 79 years old. Only 46 passengers have been tested so far, but all of the passengers will be tested at some point, officials said.
Vice President Mike Pence, who met with cruise executives in Florida on Saturday, said that of the 21 who were infected, 19 are crew members.
At least eight positive tests have been connected to the ship’s previous voyage to Mexico, including a Placer County man who died.
A Madera County resident has been confirmed as the latest case connected to the ship, according to The Fresno Bee. The patient, whose identity and gender have not been released, has been isolated and is reported to be hospitalized in stable condition, according to a statement by Dr. Simon Paul, Madera County’s public health officer.
On Saturday, the San Jose Mercury News reported that the first positive test of coronavirus in Santa Cruz County came from a recent Grand Princess passenger.
On Friday night, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said they would quarantine the 1,100-member crew aboard the ship off the coast of San Francisco but will transport passengers to quarantine sites in the United States. It’s not known where the ship will dock, though Vice President Mike Pence said federal and state authorities are working together to bring the cruise ship into a noncommercial port.
According to the Mercury News, California’s only active military port is based in San Diego. But there are closed naval bases in Alameda, Vallejo and other locations that could potentially accommodate the ship. The military also maintains a small port on the Delta near Concord.
“It’s very likely that the crew on the Grand Princess was exposed on two different outings, and we know the coronavirus manifested among the previous passengers,” Pence said, “and so we will find that out. But we will be testing everyone on the ship. We will be quarantining as necessary. But with regard to the 1,100 member crew, we anticipate that they will be quarantined on the ship, will not need to disembark.”
Stuck aboard, frustration from afar
With every passing hour, more aboard the ship as well as family back home are becoming increasingly worried about exposure.
Lisa Egan of Colorado said she’s concerned her father, Cliff Egan, could be exposed on his first cruise since his wife died last year. He turned 90 on board.
Before Cliff boarded the Grand Princess on Feb. 21 in San Francisco, Lisa said she talked to him about the risk of coronavirus. But since it wasn’t an international trip, except for a stop in Baja California, Mexico, they agreed he would be OK.
Then, early Thursday morning a note from Princess Cruises slipped under his cabin door. The ship was not going to Mexico. Instead it was headed back to California because a Placer County man on the previous cruise had died of COVID-19.
“My biggest concern is that my dad’s going to have this and isn’t going to survive it,” she said, crying. “I’m not worried about if he has to be quarantined for a couple of weeks, we’ll get through that. I’m worried he won’t survive if he has the virus.”
Another passenger aboard the Grand Princess told The Sacramento Bee she and her 83-year-old grandmother are frustrated because the captain and crew are not sharing information fast enough.
“Just now, they announced the test results (21 confirmed cases), about 20 minutes after my dad texted me the Washington Post breaking news update,” the woman said. “Up until yesterday when we were confined to our cabins, we had access to everything on the ship — buffet, dining room, restaurants, cafes, pools, hot tubs, bars, gym, spa, basketball court, etc. As an overall experience, despite having subpar coffee on this ship, it was a dream vacation until yesterday.”
All passengers are confined to their cabins, and the captain announced he has requested the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allow passengers time on deck for air and exercise.
Keeping spirits up in ‘suffocating’ rooms
Kaylen Gleason is doing what she can to keep her 6- and 9-year-old daughters busy on the Grand Princess for what is now their third day of cabin rest.
They can while away hours watching movies, she says, but “we need to balance that with physical and mental activity.”
They’re anxious for news, but have not yet heard an announcement about when or where they will dock after the federal government ends the quarantine of the ship where 21 crew members and passengers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
“It’s tough because I feel like I’m stuck in a box with no fresh air and getting rumors, ship announcements and media headlines all tangled up. Basically, we just want to go home.”
On Saturday, Kaylen Gleason wrote a schedule for the family to give the girls an “idea of time and routine.”
They’ve also been receiving care packages from the ship’s child center, which is called Camp Discovery. Crew members have been providing the family with activities and books. The child center has “been extraordinarily helpful and thoughtful,” she said.
They’ve practiced yoga, danced, played trivia and tickled each other. They make videos to share with family, and watch movies.
But, “even with things to do, when all you have are four twin beds and one chair, with a tiny strip of floor space, doing anything is pretty suffocating,” Gleason of Rocklin said in a written message.
The Rocklin family embarked on the Hawaii cruise last month looking forward to a winter getaway. They are eager to get off the ship and back home.
The girls “are in good spirits, but it is a huge challenge to keep everyone happy and have no opportunity for some space or a walk outside. We cannot even open a window,” Gleason said.
Pence meets with cruise executives
The cruise industry vowed Saturday to clean up its act to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Miami-based cruise companies said they would come up with stricter quarantine rules, begin screening passengers with temperature checks and move sick passengers to health facilities on land. Those actions should be finalized within 72 hours.
Pence announced the plans after a meeting with CEOs of Carnival, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, and MSC Cruises USA at Port Everglades in South Florida.
The vice president said cruising will continue.
“American people value our cruise line industry, it brings great joy and great entertainment value for Americans,” he said. “We want to ensure Americans can continue to enjoy the opportunities of the cruise line industry.”
Carnival, which operates the Grand Princess, said some of its ships had already started temperature checks as new passengers boarded on Saturday, but that it would take a little more time to round up enough thermometers for every ship.
Pence said federal health authorities are monitoring a third Princess Cruises ship, the Royal Princess, currently docked in Los Angeles, because a crew member from the Grand Princess was transferred there around two weeks ago. Princess Cruises said the crew member is feeling well and not showing symptoms.
Late Saturday, passengers aboard the Carnival Panorama docked in Long Beach were being delayed from disembarking the ship as officials await the results of a coronavirus test, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Passengers are not being kept in their rooms and have been allowed to gather in the ship’s bars and casino, one passenger told the Times. Long Beach city officials said the ill passenger was taken to a nearby hospital to be tested; however, a cruise official said in a Facebook post that the guest “does not meet CDC criteria for coronavirus risk, but officials still have questions.”
Sunnyvale man did not have COVID-19
On Friday night, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department said a dying 72-year-old man, who officials learned had been on a cruise ship with others suspected of having the coronavirus, tested negative for COVID-19 and did not have the virus.
The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said Thursday that it had quarantined seven public safety officers — five police and two fire personnel — who had responded to the man’s medical emergency, with some performing CPR. The self-isolation precautions for those workers has now been lifted, officials said.
The department had previously tweeted that the patient was recently on a cruise from which two patients had tested positive for the coronavirus, presumably the Grand Princess, but it was not known whether the 72-year-old himself had shown symptoms of the virus.
Elk Grove district cancels classes
Elk Grove Unified School District, the largest in Northern California, announced Saturday it will close all schools for the next week after a family whose child attends one of its schools was put on quarantine for coronavirus.
While individual schools across California have closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Elk Grove is the first school district in the state to suspend instruction. Spring break, scheduled for next month, will instead be moved to next week so that no school days will be lost.
The district said in a letter to parents on Saturday that the family of one of its students is under a quarantine order by the Sacramento County Public Health Department.
“After careful consideration and in light of the new information, effective immediately, the District will close its schools, cancel classes and any student-related activities from today, March 7 - March 13, 2020,” the letter said. “Please know that to date, no student or staff has tested positive for COVID-19.”
Where do coronavirus numbers stand?
According to the state Department of Public Health website, there were 88 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 1 reported death in California as of Saturday. The total includes 24 patients who were repatriated from Wuhan, China, and the Diamond Princess cruise off of Japan.
A map maintained by Johns Hopkins University, showed nearly 350 cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. as of Saturday morning. Public health officials have confirmed more than 70 of those cases in Washington state, where the death toll rose to 14 on Friday morning.
The Sacramento region has 10 positive cases: four in Sacramento County, five in Placer County and one in Yolo County. One man, a 71-year-old who was on the Grand Princess last month, was the first Californian to die from COVID-19 this week.
Public health officials on Friday morning confirmed the first case in Yolo County, in an “older female with underlying health conditions.” Sacramento County on Thursday declared public health and local emergencies in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. Placer County officials on Friday said there are a number of areas of the county where quarantines are in place.
What are coronavirus symptoms? How does it spread?
Symptoms of the virus that causes COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath, which may occur two days to two weeks after exposure. Most develop only mild symptoms, but some people develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal. The disease is especially dangerous to the elderly and others with weaker immune systems.
Coronavirus is spread through contact between people within six feet of each other, especially through coughing and sneezing that expels respiratory droplets that land in the mouths or noses of people nearby. The CDC says it’s possible to catch the disease COVID-19 by touching something that has the virus on it, and then touching your own face, “but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 10:34 AM with the headline "Coronavirus updates: 2 evacuated from Grand Princess; tales of parenting in confinement."
