by Sébastien VUAGNAT / with Andrew MARSZAL in Los Angeles
OAKLAND, United States (AFP) — The pace of evacuation from a coronavirus-hit cruise ship was expected to increase Tuesday in California, as US President Donald Trump said the operation was “going along incredibly well” despite slow initial progress.
The Grand Princess arrived at a sealed-off wharf at the port of Oakland in San Francisco Bay on Monday after days stranded at sea with 21 confirmed coronavirus infections among some 3,500 passengers and crew.
Some 26 passengers — including two infected with coronavirus — were immediately taken for medical care in ambulances, overseen by emergency workers equipped with gowns, gloves, respirators and face shields.
Robert Kadlec, a senior Department of Health and Human Services official, had said Monday that around half of the roughly 2,400 passengers would leave the ship that day, “and the other half tomorrow.”
But in total, just 407 passengers — the majority tourists from Canada — had disembarked by Monday evening, officials said.
“The first day of disembarkation focused on passengers with the greatest medical need (not necessarily related to COVID-19),” the California governor’s emergency services office said in a statement, using the medical term for the novel coronavirus.
“With those individuals safely transported to places where they can receive care, the pace of disembarkation from the ship is expected to increase today.”
After an overnight pause, more masked passengers were escorted from the Grand Princess to ambulances and waiting buses.
“The captain said they ‘hope’ to have us all off by tomorrow night,” passenger Carolyn Wright, a 63-year-old from New Mexico, told AFP.
“We are getting really frustrated that they still have not told us where our ultimate destination will be,” she added.
‘Multiple-day process’
Trump earlier told a White House meeting that the “the big ship that came in yesterday” was “going along incredibly well.”
Princess Cruises, the operator, said Tuesday the evacuation would be a “multiple day process.”
Epidemiologist John Redd earlier said it was an “unprecedented and difficult operation.”
After initial screening, those who don’t require acute care will be quarantined for 14 days at US military bases in California, Texas and Georgia — or flown to their home countries, in the case of foreign residents.
Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said 228 Canadians were repatriated Tuesday from the ship and will be quarantined for two weeks after landing at the Trenton air force base.
Trump added: “They’re being met and brought to planes and being brought in a very dignified fashion back into Canada.”
Two Canadian passengers stayed behind for treatment in California for health issues unrelated to the coronavirus.
The 19 crew members who tested positive for coronavirus were declared asymptomatic and remained on the ship, in isolation in their individual cabins, Princess Cruises said.
Meanwhile, a Florida couple traveling on the Grand Princess filed a $1 million lawsuit against the ship’s operator alleging negligence.
Princess Cruises “has exposed plaintiffs to the actual risk of immediate physical injury,” a copy of the complaint filed at a Los Angeles court Monday said.
© Agence France-Presse