Grand Princess cruise ship passengers bound for coronavirus quarantine in California, elsewhere

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Grand Princess cruise ship passengers bound for coronavirus quarantine in California, elsewhere

By Steve Gorman and Barbara Goldberg

 

FILE PHOTO: The Grand Princess cruise ship carrying passengers who have tested positive for coronavirus is seen in the Pacific Ocean outside San Francisco, California, U.S. March 7, 2020. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

 

(Reuters) - An ocean liner barred from returning to port in San Francisco due to a coronavirus outbreak on board will dock briefly at a nearby terminal in Oakland, where passengers will be screened and sent on to medical and quarantine sites elsewhere, officials said on Sunday.

 

The cruise ship Grand Princess, whose guests have been largely confined to their staterooms since Thursday, is due to arrive at the Port of Oakland to begin disembarking its 2,400 passengers as early as Monday, according to a statement by the California Office of Emergency Services.

 

Plans call for all 1,100 crew members to remain aboard the vessel, which will depart Oakland as soon as possible following the removal of the passengers and "will remain elsewhere for the duration of the crew's quarantine," the statement said.

 

Passengers requiring acute medical attention and hospitalization will be taken to unspecified health care facilities elsewhere in California, the state agency said.

 

Passengers who are well and from California - about 1,000 have been identified as state residents - will be taken to a federal facility "for testing and isolation," the agency said.

 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said separately that the Californian passengers would go to one of two military installations already serving as quarantine sites - Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento and Miramar Naval Air Station near San Diego.

 

The remaining passengers will be transported by the federal government to facilities in other states, identified by HHS as Joint Base San Antonio Lackland in Texas or Dobbins Air Force Base in Georgia. That number was not specified, though at least 34 are from Georgia, according to state officials.

 

HHS said all passengers from the ship would be subject to "mandatory quarantine" and health monitoring at their respective military bases for 14 days, the presumed incubation period of the sometimes-deadly respiratory virus, also known as COVID-19.

 

It said the U.S. State Department was working to arrange the repatriation to their home countries of several hundred passengers of other nationalities.

The Port of Oakland, located across San Francisco Bay from the vessel's home berth, was chosen because it was one of few in the region able to accommodate a large cruise liner and was deemed relatively easy to "seal off" while passengers are screened and moved elsewhere, the Emergency Services Office said.

 

California Governor Gavin Newsom praised local officials for agreeing to welcome the ship temporarily. "They are showing the world what makes our state great - coming to the rescue of thousands of people trapped aboard this ship and helping tackle a national emergency," Newsom said in a statement.

 

Initial word that the vessel would dock in Oakland came late on Saturday from its owner and operator, Princess Cruises. It capped four days of uncertainty for those on the vessel, which has been linked with four coronavirus cases from an earlier voyage.

 

Princess Cruises, a unit of the world's leading cruise operator, Carnival Corp, is also owner of the Diamond Princess, which was quarantined off Japan in February and became for a time the largest concentration of coronavirus cases outside of China, where the outbreak originated. About 700 people aboard that ship became infected, and six have died.

 

The Grand Princess was first denied entry to San Francisco Bay on Wednesday as it sailed back from Hawaii after state and local health authorities learned that some passengers and crew had developed flu-like symptoms, and that two guests from an earlier cruise to Mexico aboard the same ship later tested positive for coronavirus. One has died.

 

Health authorities say they probably contracted the respiratory virus aboard the vessel. Since then, at least two other passengers from the Mexico voyage have also been diagnosed.

 

Newsom had insisted the ship remain at sea until individuals aboard who were sick could be tested, and diagnostic kits were flown to the ocean liner by helicopter on Thursday.

 

On Friday, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, leading the U.S. government response to the coronavirus, announced that 19 crew members and two passengers had tested positive. But the immediate fate of the ship had remained murky until officials revealed their next steps on Sunday.

 

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, Mark Potter and Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-09

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[Tug]

Sucks to be crew on that bug infested barge the poor crew beeing turned out to sea

[AlienHermit66]

I can't wait to hear people start complaining about the choice of Oakland for this death ship... Clearly a conspiracy to wipe out the population in that area, right? 

[spiekerjozef]

Cruise ships are now a thing of the past. I can't imagine someone will step aboard anywhere soon...

[Tayaout]

1 hour ago, spiekerjozef said:

Cruise ships are now a thing of the past. I can't imagine someone will step aboard anywhere soon...

It's a great time to buy their stocks. It will be all forgotten soon after the crisis. 

[Tug]

9 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

It's a great time to buy their stocks. It will be all forgotten soon after the crisis. 

Oh boy I don’t think that’s sound advice I think they are beached bellie up doa nobody’s gonna book a bunk on one of those germ factory’s 

[Tayaout]

1 minute ago, Tug said:

Oh boy I don’t think that’s sound advice I think they are beached bellie up doa nobody’s gonna book a bunk on one of those germ factory’s 

Most peoples are not taking this crisis seriously. It will be all forgotten 1-2 years after the crisis. The current price is a steal. They aren't going anywhere. 

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/carnival-stock-price-down-nearly-50-percent-since-coronavirus-outbreak-2020-3-1028970212

 

Disclaimer: this is not financial advice 

[JimmyTheMook]

1 minute ago, Tayaout said:

Most peoples are not taking this crisis seriously. It will be all forgotten 1-2 years after the crisis. The current price is a steal. They aren't going anywhere. 

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/carnival-stock-price-down-nearly-50-percent-since-coronavirus-outbreak-2020-3-1028970212

 

Disclaimer: this is not financial advice 

 

Any other stocks down last few weeks?

[Tayaout]

32 minutes ago, JimmyTheMook said:

 

Any other stocks down last few weeks?

How many stocks are down almost 50%? I don't think people will stop going on cruise in the future. 

[lannarebirth]

I expect many will soon be pressed into service as quarantine places.  Probably not layed out appropriately to be used as hospital ships. US flagged and US owned, foreign flag ships may be pressed into service in times of declared national emergency.

[Berkshire]

2 hours ago, Tayaout said:

Most peoples are not taking this crisis seriously. It will be all forgotten 1-2 years after the crisis. The current price is a steal. They aren't going anywhere. 

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/carnival-stock-price-down-nearly-50-percent-since-coronavirus-outbreak-2020-3-1028970212

 

Disclaimer: this is not financial advice 

Hmmm....if CCL even survives.  The CDC just issued a recommendation to avoid cruise ship travel specifically.  This could linger for some time.  And if some of the passengers decide that the cruise ship contributed to them getting COVID....lawsuits galore.  I'd say there's plenty of downside left.   

Edited March 9, 2020 by Berkshire

[lannarebirth]

18 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

Hmmm....if CCL even survives.  The CDC just issued a recommendation against cruise ship travel.  This could linger for some time.  And if some of the passengers decide that the cruise ship contributed to them getting COVID....lawsuits galore.  I'd say there's plenty of downside left.   

Probably, but with pages and pages of disclaimers attached to every ticket, the need to be heard in Admiralty Court and your lawyer needing to have a good foundation in Rhodian Law I'd say lawsuits will be much fewer than you might suppose.

[Tayaout]

23 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

I'd say there's plenty of downside left.   

I agree. It's not a safe bet. 

[Stargeezr]

So these cruise ships could not even tie up at a dock and remain in total quarantine?

 I wonder about the intelligence of the authorities of keeping them at sea. I guess

less chance of anyone doing a runner.

Geezer

[lannarebirth]

1 hour ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

So these cruise ships could not even tie up at a dock and remain in total quarantine?

 I wonder about the intelligence of the authorities of keeping them at sea. I guess

less chance of anyone doing a runner.

Geezer

It is odd, as ships go into quarantine everytime they enter a new foreign port and no one is released until signed off on by local health officer.

[marko kok prong]

Strange if it sunk,the Potus could keep the numbers down just sayin......

[zydeco]

6 hours ago, Tayaout said:

How many stocks are down almost 50%? I don't think people will stop going on cruise in the future. 

Before it's over, you will see companies bankrupt and stock prices in the ditch. In 2000, heavy hitters like JDSU lost 95 percent of their stock value. In 2008-09 I remember seeing companies like FCX drop from near $60 to around $10--and today it's at $9.43. Catch a falling knife? You're trying to catch a falling razor sharp samurai sword.

[zydeco]

53 minutes ago, marko kok prong said:

Strange if it sunk,the Potus could keep the numbers down just sayin......

Please do not give Herr U-boot Kapitaen Trump any ideas. He'll do for those people what he done for the American economy.

[Tayaout]

4 minutes ago, zydeco said:

Before it's over, you will see companies bankrupt and stock prices in the ditch. In 2000, heavy hitters like JDSU lost 95 percent of their stock value. In 2008-09 I remember seeing companies like FCX drop from near $60 to around $10--and today it's at $9.43. Catch a falling knife? You're trying to catch a falling razor sharp samurai sword.

Maybe I wasn't clear. I said it's a good opportunity because I dont think they will go under. However, I would not buy exactly today. I might be wrong but I'm not used to make low variance safe bet except maybe my first house.