Passengers start unloading off ship hit by coronavirus in California, some will be sent to Texas
OAKLAND, California -- The cruise ship forced to idle for days off the coast of California because of a cluster of novel coronavirus cases aboard arrived in port Monday afternoon as state and U.S. officials prepared to transfer its thousands of passengers to military bases for quarantine or return them to their home countries.
The Grand Princess pulled into the Port of Oakland with more than 3,500 people aboard - 21 confirmed to be infected with the new virus. Passengers lining the balconies waved and some left the cabins where they had been in isolation to go onto deck as the ship entered the port along the San Francisco Bay.
As it pulled under the Golden Gate Bridge, passenger Karen Schwartz Dever said “everyone was hollering and clapping as we entered the harbor.”
Workers wearing gloves and yellow protective gear placed a large tent by a platform where passengers will disembark. At least 20 buses and five ambulances were parked nearby, and officials have said those needing acute medical care for any reason would get off first.
A TV helicopter captured video of at least one passenger, an older man wearing a face mask, climbing onto a stretcher and being lifted into the back of an ambulance. (You can watch it in the video player at the top of this article.) Officials have said the unloading will take up to three days.
U.S. passengers will be flown or bused from the port - chosen for its proximity to an airport and a military base - to bases in California, Texas (Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio) and Georgia for testing and a 14-day quarantine. The ship is carrying people from 54 countries, and foreigners will be whisked home.
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About 1,100 crew members, 19 of whom have tested positive for COVID-19, will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship, which will dock elsewhere, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
Evacuating the ship is being done utilizing a step-by-step approach, prioritizing the most vulnerable among the ship's more than 3,500 passengers and crew, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
"First of all, there are some children there who are compromised. They want to get them off. There are people who have conditions. They want to get them off. You want to get the Americans who are in California off. You want to get the others off who are going to get onto flights and go to different places," he said. "Get the ones who need help the help they need, and get the others to where they need to be."
Masks were delivered to every stateroom on the cruise ship, and passengers were told to wear them when they opened their cabin doors, passenger Teresa Johnson told CNN, citing an announcement delivered throughout the ship.
The cruise was intended to be a two-week voyage from San Francisco to Hawaii, but was stopped on its return trip last Wednesday when officials learned that a California man who'd traveled on the ship last month contracted coronavirus and died.
The vessel had been in limbo since then. Test kits were sent to the ship, and Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that 19 crew members and two passengers aboard had tested positive for the virus.
The passengers found themselves confined to their rooms and are now facing two weeks of quarantine as they disembark.
