Quarantined passengers say they lack basic care
Cruise ship passengers under federal coronavirus quarantine said they are lacking food, medical attention and are being housed in unsanitary conditions, contradicting President Donald Trump’s claims that getting them off the Grand Princess last week was a “tremendous success.”
Michelle Saunders and her grandmother Hildegard Baxpehler, 83, from Illinois, have been waiting for medical attention and other basics since they were among the 2,000 evacuated from the ship.
At Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia, no one checked their temperature for nearly two days, Saunders said, a standard protocol they were promised to help monitor for infection.
Food was not delivered to their room for more than 12 hours after their arrival, she said. Their room had no towels and one small bar of soap, and she has been told there is no more, despite the constant public health reminders to wash hands.
No efforts are being made to keep the former cruise ship passengers at a safe social distance from each other to avoid spreading the contagious disease either, she said, other than telling them to wear masks when they leave their rooms.
Sanders said her grandmother is scared and has not eaten much.
“It shouldn’t be my job to keep her safe,” a tearful Saunders said. “It should be their job, and they are not doing it.”
On Friday in the Rose Garden, Trump praised Vice President Mike Pence for the “tremendous success out in Oakland” in coordinating the disembarkment from the Grand Princess, which had identified two passengers and 19 crew infected with the new coronavirus when the ship finally docked March 9 in Oakland, California.
Contradictory accounts came not just from Dobbins but from Travis Air Force Base in California and from Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
Many of those quarantined at the three military bases had spent days stuck in their cruise cabins to avoid the spread of the coronavirus while arrangements were made for their transfer to the bases.
They found a stark contrast between protocols onboard the ship and at the bases.
On the ship, they had been restricted to their rooms. But after being carefully guided off the ship, maintaining a wide distance to avoid the possibility of spreading the infection, they were tightly crammed into airplane seats, then buses, to take them to the military bases.
Concerns about missed meals, lacking information about coronavirus testing and inadequate medical care were raised during a Saturday call between quarantined cruise passengers at Dobbins and representatives from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the cruise line.
The HHS department did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for additional comment, Princess Cruises did not respond either, but during the call cruise line official Jeff Salvatore tried to reassure the former passengers.
“You are not alone in this; we’re all with you,” Salvatore said. “We are doing everything we can to make this basically as calm and pleasing as possible.”