Cruise ship with virus cases stays off California coast

More than 3,500 people on the Grand Princess cruise ship remained in limbo off the coast of San Francisco on Saturday as they awaited word on when and where the ship will dock as 21 people – most of them crew members – have tested positive for the coronavirus.

California state authorities were working with federal officials to bring the ship to a non-commercial port and test everyone for the virus. There was no immediate word on where the vessel will dock so everyone can be tested for the virus.

Passengers on the ship said Friday night that the captain notified them they are moving to a location 20 miles off the coast for easier delivery of supplies. The captain said a guest requires medical attention and may be airlifted out, the passengers said, the Associated Press reported.

While health officials said about 1,100 crew members will remain aboard, passengers could be disembarked to face quarantine, possibly at US military bases or other sites. That's what authorities did with hundreds of passengers exposed to the virus on another Princess Cruises ship, the Diamond Princess, in January. 

President Donald Trump said on Friday during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta that he would prefer not to let the Grand Princess passengers disembark onto American soil but will defer to recommendations from medical experts.

"I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault," he said." And it wasn't the fault of the people on the ship either. Okay? It wasn't their fault either. And they are mostly Americans."

But California state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins said those aboard the Grand Princess should be brought ashore. 

"We have to be better than just leaving all these people out at sea. There are Americans on board, families, seniors, and others all wanting nothing more than to be safe and to get treatment if they need it. With the proper precautions in place and following the protocols called for by science, we can protect the public health while preserving our basic humanity," Atkins said. "Any attempt to use these passengers as pawns or scapegoats for political cover has to be rejected by anyone with a working moral compass."

On Friday dozens of events were canceled in the US, including the annual South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

Trump urged corporations to be wary of scuttling events. "I wouldn't be generally inclined to do it," he said.

He said that he isn't considering canceling political rallies. The virus "doesn't bother me at all, and it doesn't bother them at all," he said of his supporters.

On Friday, Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services, told reporters: "I just want to make it clear that in terms of tests, we have provided all the tests to the state of Washington and the state of California that they've asked for. The production and shipping of tests that we've talked about all week is completely on schedule."

But doctors and health authorities across the US are saying that kits to test for the virus are in short supply and they are calling on the CDC to provide more, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

Azar said the CDC had shipped out materials capable of testing 75,000 people to state and local government labs. In addition, he said, Integrated DNA Technologies, the private contractor working with the C.D.C. to ship to the private sector and hospitals, has already distributed enough materials for 700,000 tests.

During Trump's visit to the CDC in Atlanta on Friday, Dr Robert R. Redfield, the director of the CDC, said the agency had never denied a request by local public health officials. "All of our state labs now have the ability to test for this virus," he said.

The US death toll from the coronavirus climbed to 16 after Florida health officials said late Friday night that two people who tested positive for the new coronavirus died there. It was the first report of deaths on the East Coast. 

The two people who died in Florida had recently traveled abroad, according to the state's health department. Their deaths raised the number of fatalities in the US to 16. Overall cases in the US have shot past 300 to 338, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Pennsylvania, Indiana, Minnesota and Nebraska reported their first cases. Washington state has the nation's biggest concentration of cases, with at least 70.

Most of the dead in the US were from suburban Seattle's Life Care Center nursing home, now the subject of federal and state investigations that could lead to sanctions, including a possible takeover of its management.

On Friday dozens of events were canceled in the US, including the annual South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

Trump urged corporations to be wary of scuttling events. "I wouldn't be generally inclined to do it," he said. He said that he isn't considering canceling political rallies. The virus " doesn't bother me at all, and it doesn't bother them at all," he said of his supporters.

Globally, the coronavirus more than 100,000 people and killed over 3,400, the vast majority of them in China. Most cases have been mild, and more than half of those infected have recovered.

Chinese authorities on Friday reported the lowest one-day figures since the country's health commission started disclosing nationwide data on new infections in late January. China's National Health Commission noted 24 new imported cases on Friday, raising the total to 60. It counted 16 imported cases on Thursday and two such cases on Wednesday. China's death toll is now at 3,070.

The Grand Princess was heading from Hawaii to San Francisco when it was ordered on March 4 to keep stay away from shore so 46 people with possible coronavirus symptoms could be tested. On March 5, a military helicopter crew lowered test kits onto the ship by rope and later flew them for analysis at a state lab.

Health officials undertook the testing after reporting that a passenger on a previous voyage of the ship, in February, died of the disease.

In the past few days, health authorities disclosed that at least 10 other people who were on the same journey also were found to be infected. And some passengers on that trip stayed aboard for the current voyage — increasing crew members' exposure to the virus. 

Princess Cruises said the ship's doctor began informing passengers and crew of their results after confirmation from the CDC.