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Cruise Ship Is Held Off California Coast for Coronavirus Testing Cruise Ship Is Held Off California Coast for Coronavirus Testing
(32 minutes later)
A cruise ship with thousands of people on board was being held off the coast of California on Thursday, after officials learned that a patient who died from the coronavirus had previously traveled on the vessel and that some passengers and crew members on board were showing symptoms. A normal day on board the Grand Princess cruise ship might go like this: Sleep late under a “European-inspired duvet.” Take a dip in one of the pools on deck. Afternoon tea promises white tablecloths and finger sandwiches. Dinner could be lobster tails and steak on a private balcony. And all evening, there are plenty of things to do, from theater to gambling to dancing.
The cruise ship, the Grand Princess, had been returning from a trip in Hawaii and was heading toward San Francisco when officials asked the crew to idle the vessel off the coast. Officials were flying test kits out to the ship, where dozens of people were expected to be tested for the virus, which is spreading worldwide and has led to 11 deaths in the United States. “Expect the extraordinary,” the company says in its advertising.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who declared a state of emergency for California at a Wednesday evening news conference, said that the tests would be sent back to the shore for results that can now be ascertained “within just a few hours.” Yet on Thursday, the cruise ship, on its way back to California from Hawaii with more than 2,000 passengers on board, was idling off the coast of San Francisco, as officials scrambled to confront the latest threat from the coronavirus and passengers panicked amid fears that they could be among the sick.
The patient, who died in Placer County, near Sacramento, was the first to die from the coronavirus in California and had traveled on the ship on a round trip from San Francisco to Mexico last month. Of about 2,500 passengers aboard that cruise, about half were Californians, the governor said. Officials flew test kits by helicopter out to the Grand Princess after the authorities learned that a patient who had died from the coronavirus had previously traveled on the vessel, and that some passengers and crew members on board were showing symptoms.
About 60 passengers from that leg stayed on for an additional trip to Hawaii, and were still on board Thursday. Those passengers were to be tested for the virus, officials said. Eleven passengers and 10 crew members on the ship who were showing symptoms would be tested, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said. “That number may significantly understate” the scope of infection, he said, or “it may indeed be abundance of caution.”
Eleven passengers and 10 crew members on the ship who were showing symptoms and would also be tested, Gov. Newsom said. “That number may significantly understate” the scope of infection, he said, or “it may indeed be abundance of caution.” Others — including 62 people who had traveled at the same time as the man who died — were expected to be tested for the virus, which is spreading worldwide and has led to 11 deaths in the United States.
The Grand Princess is owned by Princess Cruises, the same company that runs the Diamond Princess, a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship that was quarantined off the coast of Japan last month. The virus circulated among the more than 3,700 crew members and passengers who were waiting out a two-week isolation period in the port city of Yokohama, with nearly 700 cases identified from that ship. Test kits will be flown back to a laboratory in Richmond, Calif., for testing, and the results could be available within “a few hours,” Mr. Newsom said. Officials said on Thursday that the results would likely not be announced until Friday.
The company said in a statement that health officials had identified a group of less than 100 passengers and crew members on the Grand Princess to be tested before arriving in San Francisco. No cases on board had been confirmed. “You may order room service while you wait for the medical screening to be completed,” the cruise line wrote in a letter to passengers while instructing those who may have been exposed to stay in their rooms.
The company was instructing passengers who may have been exposed to stay in their rooms until they were cleared by the ship’s medical staff. Get an informed guide to the global outbreak with our daily coronavirus
“You may order room service while you wait for the medical screening to be completed,” the cruise line wrote in a letter to passengers, “and we apologize for any inconvenience.” newsletter.
The person who died in Placer County was the 11th death linked to the virus in the United States, and the first outside of Washington State. As the coronavirus, which broke out in China last year, has spread across the globe, the United States is seeing a growing caseload, which on Thursday reached about 200 cases in 18 states. In America, the focus of recent days has been on Washington State, which has seen 10 people die from the virus, most at a Seattle-area nursing home. But as officials grappled with what to do about the cruise ship off the coast of San Francisco, the attention is increasingly shifting to California, where 56 people have been treated for the coronavirus, the most of any state.
The deaths in the United States are a small fraction of the more than 3,000 deaths that have been traced to the virus worldwide. Many cases of the virus are mild. Early estimates of the coronavirus death rate from China, the epicenter of the outbreak, have been around 2 percent. On average, seasonal flu strains kill about 0.1 percent of people who become infected. Mr. Newsom on Wednesday declared a state of emergency for California, to free up additional state and federal resources to fight the virus. The cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco have also made emergency declarations.
At least 54 people have been treated for the coronavirus in California this year, the most of any state. Mark Pace, a passenger aboard the Grand Princess, said Thursday that the passengers were generally in good spirits. “But it is getting more stressful as we approach Saturday, the day we’re supposed to dock,” said Mr. Pace, who isn’t among the 62 quarantined passengers.
He said updates from the cruise staff had been slow and that he was dismayed that passengers weren’t given a health screening when they boarded the cruise ship.
“I had expected to have my temperature taken,” he wrote in a tweet to Princess Cruises, the ship’s parent company, on Wednesday. “People that spent thousands of dollars on a cruise are not going to answer truthfully on their health form.”
As the cruise ship floated off the coast, crew members canceled large gatherings and took extra precautions, cleaning surfaces more often and having wait staff serve food and drinks from the buffet. Some guests received notices under their doors on Wednesday telling them they would need to vacate their cabins when the helicopter arrived with the testing kits.
Mr. Pace said that on Thursday the casino and other entertainment rooms were still open, but activities like bingo and nature walks that could attract crowds, were canceled. Mr. Pace was on the cruise to celebrate his wife Beth’s birthday, and said they went to the dining room for breakfast Thursday morning but have decided to stay in their rooms for the time being.
The panic over the fate of the Grand Princess began after a 71-year-old man who had traveled on a previous leg of the cruise, a round trip from San Francisco to Mexico, died in Placer County after leaving the ship. It was the first death from the coronavirus in California. Another passenger from that leg of the trip also tested positive for the virus and is being treated in California.
The Grand Princess is owned by Princess Cruises, the same company that runs the Diamond Princess, the coronavirus-stricken cruise ship that was quarantined off the coast of Japan last month. The virus circulated among the more than 3,700 crew members and passengers who were waiting out a two-week isolation period in the port city of Yokohama, with nearly 700 cases identified from that ship.
The company on Thursday said it was canceling an upcoming cruise to Hawaii, which was scheduled to depart San Francisco on Saturday.
When Michele Smith and her husband first heard over a loudspeaker that some passengers aboard would be quarantined, they weren’t too worried and assumed the cruise staff was just taking extra precautions. It wasn’t until several hours later, on Wednesday evening, when they found out on television that it was more than that — a passenger who had been aboard the Grand Princess had died.
“That’s when the shock set in — it was like, ‘oh my goodness,’” Ms. Smith, a 57-year-old administrative assistant, said.
She said she and her husband, Steven, 71, who live in Paradise, Calif., keep asking each other if they’re feeling any flulike symptoms. Neither do. They had other questions, too. How long had the man been on the ship? Was he sick while he was on the ship? Why hadn’t they found out earlier? She said the passengers want more guidance on what they can do to protect themselves from getting infected. So far, they’ve just been told to wash their hands and she’s not sure what else she can do.
Josee Yelle, 66, and her husband, Denis St. Pierre, 68, had already traveled to San Francisco to Montreal, intending to board the Grand Princess. On Thursday, they walked along Pier 27, where blue banners hung from light polls, with signs of cruise ships and the greeting, “Bon Voyage.”
“It’s terrible,” Ms. Yelle said of the virus. “I think it’s going to be very bad for travel agencies and the economy.”
Officials in San Francisco were preparing for the possibility that the cruise ship could dock in the city, after passengers and crew members on board were tested for the virus.
If some tests come back positive, it was unclear whether the ship would be quarantined, like the Diamond Princess ship was off the coast of Japan last month, or where or when the vessel would dock. Ms. Carroll said that state and federal officials were considering a number of locations for the ship’s return, including San Francisco.
The developments came as officials announced the first two cases of coronavirus in San Francisco on Thursday.
One patient, a man in his 90s with underlying health conditions, was hospitalized in serious condition. The other, a woman in her 40s, was hospitalized in fair condition. The origin of the cases were unknown, which officials said suggested that the virus was spreading in the community.
“Let me very clear: This virus does not discriminate,” Dr. Grant Colfax, the public health director in San Francisco said, warning against bias toward the Asian community. “Stigma and discrimination is not acceptable in this time when we need to come together as a community to protect public health. All of us need to do our part.”
Jenny Gross and Carol Pogash contributed reporting.