Grand Princess crew will stay onboard after all passengers disembark the ship at Port of Oakland, California on Monday, March 9. Once disembarkation of the guests is completed, Grand Princess will set sail with all crew and most probably will remain off the coast of California. Plans for a crew quarantine are still being determined as the US authorities decide what to do. Is this the right decision to keep the crew isolated on the ship? Only the time will tell. However, based on the previous experience with Diamond Princess experts say that quarantine practices may have helped spread coronavirus.
Why the ship will stay off the coast with the crew onboard can be a subject of speculation, or not. Based on the recent interview President Donald Trump expressed his personal opinion saying he doesn’t want the numbers of coronavirus cases in US to double because of one ship. Since it all comes down to number with President Trump it makes sense to keep the crew on the ship knowing that out of 45 people tested for coronavirus 2 guests and 19 crew members tested positive. There is only one problem, people are not numbers and COVID-19 is not a stock share.
The response by the US Authorities in the past days, following the Grand Princess lockdown off the coast of California in ship language can be described with one word “La Ge Ge”.
The ship was notified by CDC on March 4, that they are investigating a number of people who tested positive after returning from the previous cruise. Grand Princess canceled the voyage to return back to San Francisco.
On March 5, Grand Princess was off the coast of California and samples were collected from 45 people. The samples were sent to the California Department of Public Health in Richmond for testing. The results of these tests were announced the following day at a press conference by Vice President Mike Pence. The people onboard were NOT notified by the US Authorities, and found out from the press conference about the oubreak.
Three full days have passed since the US authorities confirmed the coronavirus cases, while the ship is still out at sea. Knowing that every minute counts in an attempt to contain the virus the US Authorities' response is extremely slow, with some statements not giving any confidence of the actual plan which will take place. At least this is how they appear to the general public.
