Cruise Ship Barred From Docking At San Francisco Cruise Terminal

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The coronavirus test results are back and the news is grim. Princess Cruises reports that of the 45 people aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship who were tested on Thursday, 21 samples were positive for the illness.

The ship is off the coast of California, where it's been waiting for days to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge and dock at the cruise ship terminal in San Francisco. That's not going to happen. Vice President Mike Pence who is heading up the nation's response to the coronavirus outbreak said Friday that the ship will go to an unnamed non-commercial port, and “All passengers and crew will be tested for the virus. Those that will need to be quarantined will be quarantined. Those who will require medical help will receive it.”

Furthermore, the vice president said, “We anticipate that they will be quarantined on the ship, they will not need to disembark.”

Princess Cruises reports "there are 3,533 people currently onboard Grand Princess, including 2,422 guests and 1,111 teammates. In total, they represent 54 nationalities."

Passengers are receiving all meals by room service, and the cruise line is providing free internet and telephone service to stay in contact with their families. For passengers who have prescription medications and took along just enough to get through the cruise, arrangements are being made to fill prescriptions.

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The Grand Princess was ordered Wednesday by state and federal officials to delay its arrival in San Francisco after the state of California's first coronavirus-related death was identified as a passenger on the ship Feb. 11-21 on a round-trip cruise from San Francisco to Mexico. Several more confirmed cases have now been connected to that cruise.

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As that was happening, the number of cases of new coronavirus, or COVID-19, continued to soar in the Bay Area and around the world. Here in the Bay Area, Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties announced new cases. The global count for coronavirus has topped 100,000, while the number of reported deaths is 3,488. Here in the US, the official death toll is 14 with 12 in King County, Washington; 1 in Snomohish County, Washington; and 1 in Placer County, California. A suspected coronavirus death in Sunnyvale this week has not been confirmed and has not been added to the official count.

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Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that include the common cold as well as much more serious diseases. The strain that emerged in China in late 2019, now called COVID-19, is related to others that have caused serious outbreaks in recent years, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was on Jan. 21.

The disease, which apparently originated in animals, is now transferring from person to person, although the mechanism is not yet fully understood. Its symptoms include fever, coughing and shortness of breath, and many patients develop pneumonia. There is as yet no vaccine against COVID-19 it and no antiviral treatment.

According to the CDC, the best way of preventing the disease is to avoid close contact with people who are sick, to avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, to wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and to use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol if soap and water are not available.

To avoid spreading any respiratory illness, the CDC recommends staying at home when you are sick, covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue and throwing the tissue in the trash, cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces.