Cruise ship docks as virus cases increase
Passengers reach port on day L.A. County sees its first report of ‘community spread.’
OAKLAND — Markets plummeted, Italy took the extraordinary step of limiting personal movement for the entire country, and new cases of coronavirus crept across California and the United States.
But for passengers on board the Grand Princess, Monday brought relief as the cruise ship reached the Port of Oakland, providing the comfort of land if not clear answers about their individual futures.
“I’m having anxiety now,” said Karen Spoon, a Canadian passenger who was told she would be flown to a military base near Ontario tonight, but is worried about what conditions she would find there.
It was a day in which Los Angeles reported its first case of the virus spreading easily in the community, a second Californian died of COVID-19 and life was further disrupted across several continents. But in California noontime, the saga of an ill-fated vacation cruise entered a new chapter.
Late in the afternoon after hours of waiting, a handful of passengers wearing masks headed toward tan medical tents constructed earlier. State officials said Sunday the 3,000 travelers stuck in limbo since Wednesday would be screened for symptoms before being sent by ambulance for medical treatment if necessary, or board waiting tour buses headed for military bases for a 14-day quarantine.
The operation represented a controversial and high-risk move for federal, state and local officials. They had spent days debating the trade-offs of keeping passengers on board or allowing them to disembark — though more than 1,000 crew members, mostly foreign nationals, will remain quarantined on board.
Across the state, public schools and universities have closed or moved classes online, large gatherings have been canceled and public officials are urging “social distancing” — reducing chances of contact with an infected person — to mitigate a growing outbreak. Nationally, financial markets melted down as the outbreak continues to wreak havoc with the daily lives of millions across the globe.
As of Monday night, there were more than 113,000 total virus cases worldwide, and
more than 4,000 deaths. Nationwide, more than 700 people were confirmed to be infected with the virus, with 26 dying of it, including two in California.
Authorities said the second statewide fatality involved a woman in Santa Clara County, which has seen the most cases of any county in California, now totaling 43. Officials said she was in her 60s and had been hospitalized for several weeks.
In Los Angeles, the first case of “community spread” — cases not involving travel or person-to-person contact — prompted health officials to warn that more cases of unknown origin are likely in coming days.
“This is our first case of community transmission in L.A. County and we will continue to see more cases of COVID-19,” said L.A. County Public Health Department Director Barbara Ferrer. “We continue to urge everyone to do their part: Stay home if you are sick and keep your children home if they are sick; plan for the possibility of school and business closures.”
In Long Beach, three people are believed to have contracted the coronavirus after preliminary testing, officials announced Monday afternoon. If confirmed, that would bring the total cases in the county to 19.
The nation’s capital also took a hit as seven lawmakers, in rapid succession, announced their self-quarantine after exposure to someone with the virus.
Six lawmakers were exposed to a single person with coronavirus at a conservative political conference late last month and U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Westlake Village) met in Washington last week with someone later diagnosed with the virus.
Six of the seven said they would self-quarantine even though they felt fine. Brownley shuttered her Washington office for the week. She and her staff would work from home, she said.
In Southern California,
Riverside University Health System-Public Health announced three new cases in Coachella Valley.
The individuals are believed to have traveled to an area with a known outbreak, or had contact with a known case, Riverside County public health officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser said. Two of the individuals have been isolated at home. The third is at a Coachella Valley hospital.
The rising anxiety caused by increasing numbers of diagnosed cases, coupled with a surprise announcement from Saudi Arabia that it will increase oil production and depress oil prices, made investors even more skittish than they have been in recent weeks: The stock market saw its worst day in a decade, plunging more than 7%.
President Trump sought to lift some of that tension with a push for a payroll tax cut to aid low-wage workers hit by the economic slump of canceled travel, empty restaurants, manufacturing slowdowns and other ripple effects to business.
“We are going to take care of and have been taking care of the American public and the American economy,” Trump said late Monday.
Yet some caught up in the coronavirus crisis questioned the federal response.
Marc Cadiz, who is under a two-week quarantine in
San Joaquin County after being exposed to the virus on a previous voyage of the Grand Princess, said he is frustrated by what he perceives as a president not taking the situation seriously enough.
“Trump denies or downplays the experts,” Cadiz said. “I think we need to do a better job before it becomes endemic.”
Late Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission asked employees at its Washington headquarters to stay away from the office because of the virus, making it the first major federal employer to call for telecommuting.
In recent days, UC Berkeley
and Stanford announced they would move to online classes, while some public schools in San Francisco also shuttered.
In Elk Grove, schools were closed this week as a precautionary measure after two people in a family with multiple children in its facilities tested positive. On Monday, the district announced an elementaryaged child in that family had also tested positive.
In Oakland, some residents feared that the Grand Princess’ arrival could further spread the virus in a community far poorer than its neighbor across the bay, San Francisco.
“I think part of the reason
Oakland gets this ... is because West Oakland is historically low-income with lots of minorities who will not give a lot of pushback,” said Jen Izeck, a medical social worker who has lived in Oakland for more than 20 years.
“I think it was a purposeful decision to dock in West Oakland,” Izeck added. “It is unfortunate they don’t have more of a voice in this, that Oakland doesn’t have more of voice.”
Clint Carter, a programmer who works in Jack London Square, said, “They didn’t put them over in Mill Valley,” referring to the aff luent city in Marin County.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on Sunday spoke about the racial and environmental discrimination her city has faced but added Monday that she was satisfied with the safety measures being taken for port workers, local emergency crews and the surrounding community.
“We are very glad to play a role, which is the right thing to do to welcome these passengers into safety and to release them from what had to have been a terrifying experience of being trapped on this ship,” Schaaf said after an event on homelessness in Sacramento.
Schaaf did not say, though, whether she could have refused use of the port if her concerns had not been addressed. The port sits on state-owned land.
“I never got to the point where I had to find that out,” she said. “I think people should take heart that the different levels of government can work together with a single purpose, with safety in mind.”
On Sunday, the U.S. State Department warned Americans, especially older ones, to avoid cruise ships. While many may follow that advice, at least one ship passenger on Monday — waiting in line to have her temperature taken on the gangway — said she wouldn’t let the virus spoil her future fun.
“We will cruise again,” Spoon said. “With Princess.”
‘We are going to take care of and have been taking care of the American public and the American economy.’
— PRESIDENT TRUMP