■ California prepares to dock cruise ship with 21 cases.
Passengers to be in quarantine for two weeks
San Francisco — As the U.S. death toll from the new coronavirus reached at least 21, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the mayor of Oakland sought Sunday to reassure the public that none of the passengers from a ship will be released into the public before undergoing a 14-day quarantine.
The Grand Princess carrying more than 3,500 people from 54 countries is expected to dock in Oakland, in the east San Francisco Bay, today and was idling off the coast Sunday as officials prepared a port site. Those needing acute medical care will come off first.
“This is a time that we must be guided by facts and not fears and our public deserves to know what’s going on,” said Mayor Libby Schaaf.
Meanwhile, the number of infections in the United States climbed above 500 as testing for the virus increased.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health’s infectious diseases chief, said Sunday that widespread closure of a city or region, as Italy has done, is “possible.”
“You don’t want to alarm people, but given the spread we see, you know anything is possible and that’s the reason why we’ve got to be prepared to take whatever action is appropriate to contain and mitigate the outbreak,” Fauci said on “Fox News Sunday.”
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said communities will need to start thinking about canceling large gatherings, closing schools and letting more employees work from home, as many companies have done in the Seattle, Wash., area amid an outbreak at a care home that has killed 17.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency on Sunday after the number of confirmed cases there doubled from the previous day to 14.
On the Grand Princess, Donna LaGesse and her sister-in-law Jackie Eilers had a small celebration in their cabin Saturday night after the captain announced the ship would soon dock. She said they’re maintaining a positive attitude, watching exercise videos and re-runs of “The Love Boat.”
“We’re keeping our senses of humor. We’re laughing at the whole situation,” said LaGesse, 64, of Greenville, N.C. “We’re lucky because we have a room with a balcony so we can get some fresh air.”
She praised the ship’s crew, who have been “bending over backwards for us. I can’t imagine how difficult it’s been for them.”
The port at Oakland was chosen for the ship to dock because of its proximity to an airport and a military base, Newsom said. U.S. passengers will be transported to military bases in California, Texas and Georgia. All will be tested for the COVID-19 virus and will remain under a 14-day quarantine, federal officials said.
The 1,113-member crew, 19 of whom have tested positive for the new virus, will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship, which will dock elsewhere, Newsom said.
“That ship will turn around — and they are currently assessing appropriate places to bring that quarantined ship — but it will not be here in the San Francisco Bay,” he said.
The Department of State was working with the home countries of several hundred passengers to arrange their repatriation.
Canada announced it was sending a plane to collect nearly 240 Canadians on the Grand Princess. Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement Sunday that those who have not shown any symptoms of the new virus will be taken to a military base in Trenton, Ontario, for a twoweek quarantine.
The Grand Princess had been forbidden to dock in San Francisco amid evidence that the vessel was the breeding ground for a cluster of at least 20 cases, including one death, after a previous voyage.
The ship was heading from Hawaii to San Francisco when it was held off the California coast Wednesday so people with symptoms could be tested for the virus.
Grant Tarling, chief medical officer for Carnival Corp., said it’s believed a 71-year-old Northern California man who later died of the virus was probably sick when he boarded the ship for a Feb. 11 cruise to Mexico.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said communities will need to start thinking about canceling large gatherings, closing schools and letting more employees work from home.