Americans Evacuated From Quarantined Cruise Ship Including 14 Who Tested Positive For Coronavirus
Another 60 Americans remained in Japan for monitoring, State Department officials said. Meanwhile, a second cruise ship was finally allowed to dock and passengers to disembark, with promises that "there was no indication of COVID-19 on the ship." However, an American who was on board did test positive for the coronavirus, sparking fears that the passengers who have already flown home could spread the illness without being aware they're infected.
Reuters:
U.S. Flies 338 Americans Home From Cruise Ship, Including 14 With Coronavirus
More than 300 Americans who had been stuck on a cruise ship affected by the coronavirus were back in the United States on Monday, flown to U.S. military bases for two more weeks of quarantine after spending the previous 14 days docked in Japan. Among those repatriated on a pair of U.S.-chartered jets were 14 people who tested positive for the fast-spreading virus, seven on each plane. The Diamond Princess cruise ship held by far the largest cluster of cases outside China, with more than 400 people infected out of some 3,700 on board. (Trotta and Rose, 2/17)
The Washington Post:
Coronavirus: Fourteen American Cruise Passengers With Coronavirus Among 328 Evacuated To The U.S.
The 14 U.S. passengers tested positive for the virus after disembarking from the Diamond Princess, a cruise liner carrying 2,666 passengers and 1,045 crew members that had been quarantined for two weeks off the Japanese port of Yokohama. But by the time their test results arrived, they were already on a fleet of buses that took 328 asymptomatic passengers from the ship to two charter planes bound for U.S. military bases in Texas and California, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about the incident. It was a wrench in a coordinated effort. While the buses sat on the tarmac, health experts mulled whether to put the 14 on the flights or divert them to hospitals in Japan, the official said. (Fifield, Horton and Bhattarai, 2/17)
The Wall Street Journal:
Coronavirus Cruise Passengers Land In U.S., Including 14 Infected
The U.S. initially said no one with the virus would be allowed on the repatriation flights. But during the 40-minute bus ride from the ship to the airport, word arrived that 14 passengers in the group had tested positive based on tests conducted two days before the evacuation, U.S. officials said. Rather than turn them back, officials decided to seat the 14 in an isolated section apart from other plane passengers, according to a joint statement by the State Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. The statement said the infected passengers didn’t have symptoms of the viral disease and would be sent to “an appropriate location for continued isolation and care” in the U.S. (Bhattacharya, 2/17)
CBS News:
Americans From Coronavirus-Stricken Cruise Ship In Japan Flown Back To U.S.
Two planes carrying hundreds of Americans taken off a quarantined cruise ship in Japan arrived at U.S. military bases overnight. The first touched down at Travis Air Force Base in California and the other landed several hours later in Texas. "A select number of high-risk passengers" were then flown to Omaha, Nebraska, according to the State Department. The planes brought evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which remains quarantined after an outbreak on board of the deadly new coronavirus. (2/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Air Force Officials: Coronavirus Patients Will Not Stay At Fairfield Base
The group of coronavirus patients whisked to Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield late Sunday after evacuating a Japanese cruise ship did not linger for long at the California military facility. While the base opened its gates for uninfected passengers who had been quarantined aboard the cruise ship, military officials said they would not be treating coronavirus patients at the airfield. Instead, the infected people were transported by the State Department to medical facilities in California and Nebraska. (Fracassa, 2/17)
The New York Times:
They Escaped An Infected Ship, But The Flight Home Was No Haven
The ground rules were clear. A day before 328 Americans were to be whisked away from a contaminated cruise ship in Japan, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo told passengers that no one infected with the coronavirus would be allowed to board charter flights to the United States. But as the evacuees began filing onto two reconfigured cargo planes early Monday for departures to military bases in California or Texas, some noticed tented areas separated from the rest of the cabin. (Rich and Wong, 2/17)
CNN:
An American Evacuated From Japan On A US Charter Flight Says She Didn't Know People On The Plane Had Tested Positive For Coronavirus Until It Landed
An American who was evacuated on US-chartered jet from a cruise ship docked in Japan told CNN that she wasn't aware that other passengers on the plane had tested positive for novel coronavirus until they landed. Sarah Arana was one of more than 300 US citizens evacuated from the Diamond Princess over the weekend and flown to the states following the outbreak of coronavirus on the ship, which is docked off the Japanese port city of Yokohama. Fourteen passengers from the Diamond Princess had tested positive for coronavirus before they boarded evacuation flights, the US departments of State and Health and Human Services said in a joint statement early Monday, while two flights carrying the evacuees were en route to US military bases in California and Texas. (Tinker and Silverman, 2/18)
NPR:
14 Americans Taken Off Cruise Ship And Flown To U.S. Test Positive For Coronavirus
A second cruise ship, the MS Westerdam, docked in Cambodia on Thursday after it was turned away by several other countries. Cruise operator Holland America said passengers and crew were screened for illness and that "there was no indication of COVID-19 on the ship." Cambodian officials allowed people onboard to disembark. (Booker and Wamsley, 2/17)
The New York Times:
Coronavirus Infection Found After Cruise Ship Passengers Disperse
Amid assurances that the ship was disease free, hundreds of elated passengers disembarked. Some went sightseeing, visiting beaches and restaurants and getting massages. Others traveled on to destinations around the world. One, however, did not make it much farther than the thermal scanners at the Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia. The passenger, an American, was stopped on Saturday, and later tested positive for the coronavirus. On Sunday, with passengers already headed for destinations on at least three continents, health officials were scrambling to determine how big a problem they now have — and how to stop it from getting bigger. (Paddock, Wee and Rabin, 2/16)
CNN:
Westerdam Cruise Passenger With Coronavirus: What We Know So Far
When the American woman arrived in Malaysia, she only had a cough. She had no fever or difficulty breathing, but told authorities she felt unwell. A chest X-ray conducted by the Malaysian Ministry of Health confirmed she had signs of pneumonia. After subsequent tests, she was diagnosed with the coronavirus. She is in a stable condition. All other Holland America charter flights to Malaysia for the remaining Westerdam passengers have been canceled. (Westcott, 2/18)
The Hill:
Authorities Scramble To Find Passengers From Cambodia Cruise After Woman Tests Positive For Coronavirus
Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines had previously turned the ship away before it was allowed to dock in Cambodia, whose prime minister, Hun Sen, has also refused to ban direct flights to China amid the outbreak for fear of damaging the national economy and Cambodian relations with Beijing. Before the American woman was diagnosed, a single case involving a visitor from China had been recorded. (Budryk, 2/17)
USA Today:
Coronavirus: Couple With Coronavirus Flew On Delta, Hawaiian Airlines
Delta Air Lines and Hawaiian Airlines are working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Japanese health officials to trace the path of a couple from Nagoya, Japan, who were diagnosed with coronavirus after returning from Hawaii. Hawaiian state health officials say the couple, who are in their 60s, were in Hawaii from Jan. 28 to Feb. 7 and tested positive after being hospitalized in Japan. (Deerwester, 2/17)
PBS NewsHour:
How U.S. Health Officials Are Responding To The Threat Of Novel Coronavirus
With the novel coronavirus crisis gripping parts of Asia, thousands of passengers have been quarantined aboard cruise ships. Among them were several hundred Americans, who are now being evacuated back to the U.S., where they will undergo another quarantine in case they are infected with the virus. (Nawaz, 2/17)
