Stop taking cruises, Gov. Newsom tells elderly while warning that coronavirus numbers will rise
California should expect the number of coronavirus cases to keep rising statewide, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday as the state prepared to receive a cruise ship bearing some passengers and crew with the disease.
He made the remarks in Oakland on Sunday, where a cruise ship carrying at least 21 infected people is scheduled to dock sometime Monday. The Democratic governor detailed a protocol for evacuating, treating and quarantining the thousands of passengers on board, and warned the state does not have the capacity to handle many more cruise ship outbreaks like this one.
Newsom also said he would meet with school superintendents from across the state on Monday to try to “ratchet up our guidance” to them about possible school closures.
In total, 114 people have tested positive for the virus in California, but that number is expected to increase as officials conduct more tests, Newsom said. More than 10,000 in the state are being monitored for signs of the disease.
California has the capacity to test nearly 8,000 people and 15 labs capable of testing, Newsom said. Starting Monday, commercial lab Quest Diagnostics will be able to test 2,000 people per day through its facility in San Juan Capistrano.
More than 3,500 passengers and crew are aboard the Grand Princess, which had been on a voyage to Hawaii. A passenger from a previous cruise on the same ship in February died from the virus last week, the first California patient to perish from the disease known as COVID-19.
The ship is currently waiting 10-12 miles offshore, Newsom said. A team of medical officials will board the ship this afternoon to begin triaging passengers. Meanwhile, officials on the shore are working to clear and fence off a 10-acre part of the Port of Oakland to accept the ship.
Newsom says sites across California were considered for the operation to evacuate the Grand Princess cruise ship, which was initially scheduled to dock in San Francisco last Wednesday but has been kept at sea in an effort to contain the outbreak.
Oakland was selected in part for its airport, Newsom said. Some foreign passengers and Americans from states other than California will be flown out of the state through the Oakland International Airport, although they will not interact with the general public in the main airport terminals.
No one from the ship will be released into Oakland or quarantined in the city, Mayor Libby Schaaf said.
First off the Grand Princess will be people who need to be hospitalized, although officials don’t know how many will be in that category, Newsom said. Next will be more than 900 California residents on board, who will be taken out of Oakland and quarantined for two weeks at Travis Air Force Base in Solano County and the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego.
After passengers are evacuated from the ship, Port of Oakland will be scrubbed clean, Newsom said.
“I can promise you the local workers have nothing to fear,” he said.
Newsom also told elderly people and those with preexisting conditions to avoid cruise ships as coronavirus spreads across the world, warning that cruise companies could jeopardize the future of their industry if they do not respond appropriately.
“If you are elderly, if you have a preexisting condition… I would highly recommend, almost demand, that you not go on a cruise,” Newsom said. The U.S. State Department said Sunday afternoon that all Americans should avoid cruises.
On Sunday, Newsom declined to join a chorus of voices criticizing the Trump administration for its handling of the coronaviruse outbreak. Instead, Newsom said he’s working closely with federal officials to fight the virus and praised Vice President Mike Pence’s work handling the situation.
This story was originally published March 8, 2020 at 3:13 PM.