Virus case cuts short cruise in Alaska
Stunted season’s first outing on small vessel
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The first cruise in an already decimated southeast Alaska cruise season came to a devastating end Wednesday when a small ship carrying 36 passengers returned to Juneau because one of the guests had tested positive for COVID-19.
All 36 guests on the Wilderness Adventurer will quarantine at a hotel and the 30 crew members will quarantine on the ship in Gastineau Channel, just off Juneau’s downtown.
The loss of cruise ships capable of carrying thousands of people has been devastating to Alaska’s tourism economy this summer, particularly for communities in southeast Alaska that would have seen their populations swell with the influx of tourists.
The state tourism industry had anticipated 2.2 million visitors, many of them on cruises.
Larger cruise ships — those carrying more than 250 passengers and crew members — have been under no-sail orders, but smaller companies were allowed to continue operating.
In other developments:
■ California officials said as many as 17,600 inmates may be released early due to the coronavirus pandemic. That is 70 percent more than previously estimated and a total that victims and police say includes dangerous criminals who should stay locked up. However, prison officials say Corrections Secretary Ralph Diaz is likely to block the release of about 5,500, in part because many are serving life sentences.
■ The Arkansas state government is requiring public schools to stay open five days a week when classes resume this month, complicating efforts by some districts to limit on-site instruction because of the coronavirus. Education Secretary Johnny Key issued the guidance to schools Wednesday as the state reported 912 new confirmed virus cases and 18 more deaths.
■ Chicago’s mayor said the nation’s third-largest school district will rely only on remote instruction to start the school year. The city’s decision to abandon its plan to have students attend in-person classes for two days a week on Sept. 8 came amid strong pushback from the powerful teachers union.
■ Five Texas GOP lawmakers sued Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday over a $295 million contact tracing deal signed during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic that they claim skirted oversight and amounted to the governor exceeding his authority.
■ Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration argued Wednesday that Louisiana’s statewide mask mandate and bar restrictions have helped to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, hoping to persuade a state district judge to uphold the regulations in a lawsuit challenging them as unconstitutional. After a daylong hearing from witnesses on both sides of the litigation, testimony in the case was scheduled to continue Thursday.