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Honeymooner among 61 people on cruise ship confirmed as having coronavirus Passengers quarantined on cruise ship are desperate to escape coronavirus that infected 61 fellow travelers
(about 8 hours later)
YOKOHAMA, Japan — A British honeymooner is among 41 people aboard a cruise liner who learned Friday they have contracted the new coronavirus, as some 3,700 passengers and crew remained quarantined on board the stricken vessel. YOKOHAMA, Japan — For now, only the sick can leave.
Alan Steele, 58, and his wife, Wendy, were married last month. The couple, from Wolverhampton in Britain, had been celebrating with a honeymoon cruise on the Diamond Princess. In the four days since the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined around 3,700 passengers and crew members in a Japanese port, the few dozen who have disembarked were wheeled off on stretchers and helped into ambulances. They coughed and ached and burned with fever — the latest to fall ill as the coronavirus outbreak spreads rapidly across Asia.
“I have been infected and am being transferred to hospital,” Alan said via Facebook messenger. “Must say I am not showing any symptoms at the moment.” Growing desperate after days of being cooped up, Vana Mendizabal, 69, suddenly realized: What if her only escape route from the ship and the mandatory 14-day quarantine would be to come down with the virus?
Coronavirus live updates: Death of whistleblower doctor unleashes fury in China She is one of hundreds of Americans stuck on the cruise ship halfway around the world, in a confinement that is one of the strange repercussions of the coronavirus epidemic that was first documented in Wuhan, China, in December. Since then, more than 31,000 people have been infected and more than 630 people have died — most of them in China. Cases have also been recorded in more than two dozen countries.
Wendy, a nurse, is due to celebrate her 52nd birthday on Feb. 11, while her husband was due to start a new job on Feb. 10. Vana Mendizabal's travel insurance won't arrange an evacuation unless she falls ill. Japan won't allow anyone off the ship unless they are being transported to a hospital or have completed at least two weeks in quarantine. U.S. officials have not offered another solution to evacuate American passengers who are anxiously holed up on the cruise liner.
“I have demanded that they test me,” she said by messenger. “I WILL NOT be separated from Alan.” Mendizabal and her husband, Mario, 75, who are from Crystal River, Fla., feel stranded as they run out of clean clothes and patience.
The latest tests bring to 61 the number of people on board the ship who have been diagnosed with the virus, out of 273 who have been tested, Japan’s health minister said Friday. All who tested positive have been or will be taken to local hospitals for treatment. "We are trying to somehow reach the State Department in hopes they will get us off here," Vana Mendizabal said in a phone call from the couple's cabin. "We are confined to our cabins, we're breathing recirculated air, and it's not a healthy environment for us to be staying in."
"We just want to get off the ship," she said. A friend with whom the Mendizabals are traveling learned Thursday that her mother had died back home, news that compounded their group's sense of urgency.
A State Department official said Friday that U.S. officials were closely tracking the situation aboard the ship and that "once the passengers on the Diamond Princess finish their 14-day quarantine period, they will be permitted to depart Japan on commercial flights, which are readily available, and will not be subject to additional quarantine upon return to the United States."
But as the number of sick steadily ticked up to 61 Friday, fears mounted among passengers that the quarantine could potentially expose them to the virus rather than protect them from it.
The outbreak on the ship is believed to have begun when an infected passenger carried the virus onto the ship, later disembarking in Hong Kong.
Alan and Wendy Steele got married in January and were spending their honeymoon on the Diamond Princess cruise liner. They are now confined to their cabin, quarantined for 14-days. #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/lyXWM4vC0EAlan and Wendy Steele got married in January and were spending their honeymoon on the Diamond Princess cruise liner. They are now confined to their cabin, quarantined for 14-days. #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/lyXWM4vC0E
They include 28 from Japan, 11 from the United States, seven from Australia, seven from Canada, three from Hong Kong, one each from Argentina, Britain, New Zealand and Taiwan, and one Filipino crew member. One is in serious condition, Japanese media reported. Alan Steele, 58, is among the dozens of people aboard the cruise liner who have since learned they have the virus. Steele and his wife, Wendy, married last month and were celebrating their honeymoon with a cruise vacation that has turned into a nightmare.
Of the latest 41 to be diagnosed, 21 are aged in their 70s and six are in their 80s, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported, citing the health ministry. “I have been infected and am being transferred to hospital,” Alan Steele said via Facebook Messenger on Friday. “Must say I am not showing any symptoms at the moment.”
The tests were carried out on passengers and crew deemed at highest risk of having caught the virus after an initial health screening, either because they showed symptoms or because they had mixed with a passenger from Hong Kong who is believed to have carried the virus onto the ship before disembarking. Wendy, a nurse, is to celebrate her 52nd birthday Tuesday, and her husband was to start a new job Monday.
Ironically, though, Steele said he appeared to have been selected for testing in error, with a doctor later apologizing for having swabbed his throat and uncertain why the newlywed had been chosen. The couple was reluctant to be separated but only Alan tested positive for the virus and disembarked for treatment. “It was a hard first night without Alan,” Wendy said the next morning. But she added that the pair are in constant communication and that “Japanese doctors are excellent and he is in safe hands.”
“I get the impression they are very confused,” he said. All who tested positive have been or will be taken to local hospitals for treatment.
All remaining passengers have been issued with thermometers to check their temperatures. Wendy Steele had earlier said many people on board have slight coughs, but only because of the dry air circulating through the air-conditioning system. Of the most recent 41 found to have the virus, 21 are in their 70s and six are in their 80s, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported, citing the Ministry of Health.
On Thursday, Japan’s Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the quarantine would not “in principle” be extended. He stressed there was a limit to how many tests could be processed each day. Japan’s tourism industry has been badly hurt by the epidemic, and fears are mounting that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could be disrupted. Aside from the 61 cases on the cruise ship, 25 people have tested positive for the virus in Japan.
Speaking about those still on board, Kato said Japan would “give the highest priority to ensuring their health, and in order to prevent the spread of infection, we will implement measures thoroughly.” A second ship, the World Dream, is being quarantined in Hong Kong, pending test results and health checks for the 3,800 people aboard, after three passengers who sailed between Jan. 19 and Jan. 24 tested positive for the virus.
Passengers were initially confined to their cabins when the quarantine was imposed on Tuesday, but were allowed to spend some time on deck on Thursday provided they wore masks, kept at least three feet apart and avoided using elevators. They have been given rubber gloves to wear outside their cabins. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that foreigners would not be allowed to get off a third cruise ship, the Westerdam, which left Hong Kong on Saturday, except in special circumstances. The country’s transport minister on Friday said similar measures would be implemented for other cruise ships if there were fears of infection aboard.
Japan’s tourism industry has been badly hurt by the epidemic, and fears are mounting that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics could be disrupted. Aside from the 61 cases on the cruise ship, 25 people have tested positive for the virus in Japan. Aboard the Diamond Princess, the tests were carried out on passengers and crew members deemed at highest risk of having caught the virus after an initial health screening, either because they showed symptoms or because they had interacted with the infected passenger who disembarked in Hong Kong.
Kato said the number of cases on the cruise ship would not be counted among Japan’s tally as recorded by the World Health Organization, and would instead be counted as “others.” The remaining passengers have been issued thermometers to check their own temperatures. And they’ve been left trying to make the best of a strange situation.
But he denied that Japan had made a request to the WHO to separate the numbers out so that it avoided looking like a risky destination. The only interactions passengers have with anyone outside their cabins are visits by crew members delivering and removing food trays several times a day.
A second ship, the World Dream, is also being quarantined off Hong Kong pending test results and health checks for the 3,800 people on board, after three passengers who sailed between Jan. 19 and 24 tested positive for the virus. Some passengers do not seem to mind. American passengers Matthew Smith and his wife, Katherine Codekas, both 57, regularly vacation on cruise ships and said even this experience on the Diamond Princess won't put them off taking another trip. "The only thing now is not to think about how much time remains," Smith said. "You just kind of take it day by day, moment by moment, and that's not so bad."
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that foreigners would not be allowed to get off a third cruise ship, the Westerdam, which left Hong Kong on Saturday, unless there were special circumstances. The country’s transport minister on Friday said similar measures would be implemented for other cruise ships if there were fears of infection aboard. On Twitter, Smith posted a photo of food that had been delivered to his room: salmon, fresh bread and chocolate cake.
Akiko Kashiwagi in Tokyo contributed to this report. “You might have to drag me off the ship when the quarantine ends,” he wrote, complimenting his feast.
On Thursday, some passengers were allowed to spend time on a deck so long as they wore masks, kept at least three feet apart and avoided using elevators. They have been given rubber gloves to wear outside their cabins.
But for some passengers, even just a few days in quarantine seem impossibly long. When the Mendizabals planned their three-week vacation, they did not imagine they would be in for an extra two weeks away from work and home.
“It’s been very disruptive,” Vana Mendizabal said. “It’s very stressful.”
Akiko Kashiwagi in Tokyo and Hannah Sampson in Washington contributed to this report.
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