Vice President Mike Pence announced that 21 people in a cruise ship off the San Francisco coast have tested positive for coronavirus.
Pence said that 46 people aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship were tested for the virus. 19 crew members and two passengers were among those who tested positive. The vice president said that the federal government is working with California’s government to dock the ship at a noncommercial port this weekend.
“All passengers will be tested,” Pence said. “Those that need to be quarantined will be quarantined.”
The Grand Princess is carrying 3,533 people, including 2,422 passengers and 1,111 crew members. A passenger on the ship told the Los Angeles Times that, at 3:30 p.m. local time, the vessel’s captain apologized to those aboard that they had to learn about the infections from Pence’s address. He said the crew was not notified before the announcement.
“This really sucks that the government decided that they should be the one to break the news,” Debbi Loftus, who is traveling with her elderly parents, said. “Right now, I, and I know my parents, are extremely angry that we are hearing this from the vice president rather than our captain.”
After the ship docks at a port, those on board will be tested for COVID-19, and those who test positive will be quarantined and given medical attention.
Trump on Friday said he would prefer to have the passengers stay on the ship but indicated he would leave the judgment call up to others.
“I have great experts, including our vice president, who’s working 24 hours a day on this stuff,” Trump said. “They would like to have the people come off. I’d rather have the people stay, but I’d go with them. I told them to make the final decision.”
“I can live either way with it,” he said. “I’d rather have them stay on, personally, but I fully understand if they want to take them off. I gave them the authority to make the decision.”
Also on Friday, in an “unprecedented” move, the annual technology, film, and music conference South by Southwest was canceled because of the growing coronavirus outbreak.
There have been 310 confirmed cases of the illness in the United States and 14 deaths. Total worldwide infections of the illness, which originated in central China, surpassed 100,000 on Friday, with total deaths nearing 3,500.
