CRUISE CONTROL
State Dept. says to avoid cruise ships amid coronavirus threat
The U.S. State Department is urging all U.S. citizens to avoid traveling on cruise ships because of coronavirus risks.
The department issued an advisory Sunday urging people, especially those with underlying health conditions, to avoid traveling on cruise ships.
“This is a fluid situation,” the State Department advisory said. “[The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] notes that older adults and travelers with underlying health issues should avoid situations that put them at increased risk for more severe disease.”
That includes avoiding crowded places, avoiding non-essential travel like long plane trips and avoiding cruise ships.
The advisory came two days after a classroom assistant at Vaughn Occupational High School in Chicago was diagnosed with the coronavirus after returning from a Grand Princess cruise ship last month.
That cruise ship, which has at least 21 confirmed cases of the virus, mostly among its crew, is expected to dock in Oakland, California, on Monday. The Grand Princess is carrying more than 3,500 people from 54 countries, officials said. Passengers will go to health care or isolation facilities.
Crew members will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship.
The U.S. death toll from the new coronavirus reached at least 21, with all but three victims in Washington state, and the number of infections in the country climbed above 500.
Ted Cruz to stay home
WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Sunday he will remain at his home in Texas for two weeks after learning he shook hands and chatted with a man who has tested positive for coronavirus. The two were at the Conservative Political Action Conference nearly two weeks ago in suburban Washington.
Italy attempts lockdown
Italy on Sunday took a page from China’s playbook, attempting to lock down 16 million people — more than a quarter of its population — for nearly a month to halt the relentless march of the new coronavirus. Weddings and museums, movie theaters and shopping malls are all affected by the new restrictions, which focus on a swath of northern Italy.
After mass testing uncovered more than 7,300 infections, Italy now has registered more cases of the virus than any country but China, where the disease is in retreat. The death toll in Italy rose to 366.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s allergy and infectious diseases chief, said Sunday that widespread closure of a city or region in the United States, as Italy has done, is “possible.”
Jake Wittich, AP, Sun-Times staff