14 Americans Test Positive For Coronavirus After Evacuation From Cruise Ship
At least fourteen US citizens were found to have tested positive for the coronavirus as they were evacuated from a quarantined cruise ship to be brought home on Monday.
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As we previously reported, thousands of people on the Diamond Princess cruise ship had been quarantined over the deadly coronavirus for more than a week. 300 US citizens were said to be on that same ship. However, the US finally offered flights home for its citizens on Monday morning. Though, fourteen of those passengers tested positive before boarding a plane home and had to travel in an “isolation box” at the back of the aircraft. The US State Department and Department of Health and Human Services said in a joint statement this morning,
“During the evacuation process, after passengers had disembarked the ship and initiated transport to the airport, U.S. officials received notice that 14 passengers, who had been tested 2-3 days earlier, had tested positive for COVID-19,” it said. The agencies added that the passengers had been evaluated, and “all were deemed asymptomatic and fit to fly before being processed for evacuation.”
According to Business Insider, the American passengers will likely travel to Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California, just outside of Sacramento, Henry Walke, the director of the CDC’s Division of Preparedness and Emerging Infections, told the WSJ.Â
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