More than two dozen passengers on a cruise ship were screened for coronavirus after it docked in the larger New York City metropolitan area.
A Royal Caribbean ship that left for the Bahamas on Jan. 27 docked in Bayonne, New Jersey, on Friday, and 27 people aboard, all Chinese nationals, were examined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Twenty-three have been released with no symptoms and will be sent back to China. Four were taken to a nearby hospital. None of the passengers on the cruise ship are from the Wuhan, China, area, where the coronavirus originated.
“We are participating in elevated levels of guest screening to check the spread of coronavirus,” the Royal Caribbean said. “We are closely monitoring developments regarding coronavirus and have rigorous medical protocols in place onboard our ships.”
“It is terrible, I could never imagine that this could be happening right now,” one of the passengers told CNN on Friday.
More than 600 people have died from the coronavirus, and more than 30,000 people have been infected worldwide. China accounts for the vast majority of the cases. Scientists are attempting to track down the source of the outbreak.
President Trump weighed in on the coronavirus epidemic Friday, tweeting that he had “a long and very good conversation” with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy, but he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone,” Trump said.
….he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 7, 2020
