21 positive for coronavirus on cruise ship off California

SAN FRANCISCO — Twenty-one people aboard a mammoth cruise ship off the California coast tested positive for the new coronavirus and 19 of them are crew members, Vice President Mike Pence announced Friday, amid evidence the vessel was the breeding ground for a deadly cluster of more than 10 cases during its previous voyage.

He said federal officials were working with California authorities on a plan to bring the ship to a non-commercial port. There was no immediate word on where or when the vessel will dock.

“All passengers and crew will be tested for the virus,“Pence said. “Those that will need to be quarantined will be quarantined. Those who will require medical help will receive it.“

Pence said 46 of the more than 3,500 people aboard were tested in the first round. A military helicopter crew lowered test kits onto the 951-foot Grand Princess by rope Thursday and later retrieved them for analysis as the vessel waited off San Francisco, under orders to keep its distance from shore.

Health officials trying to establish whether the virus is circulating on the Grand Princess undertook the testing after reporting that a passenger on a previous voyage of the ship, in February, died of the disease.

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus climbed to 14, with all but one victim in Washington state, while the number of infections swelled to over 200, scattered across about half the states. Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Minnesota and Nebraska reported their first cases.

President Donald Trump signed an $8.3 billion measure to help public health agencies deal with crisis and spur development of vaccines and treatments.