Four passengers from the Grand Princess Cruise ship that was initially not allowed to dock in San Francisco due to COVID-19 infections are expected to be quarantined at Asilomar State Park and Conference Grounds, Monterey County and Pacific Grove officials confirmed on Tuesday, March 10.
None of the passengers are known to have the virus, according to a press release from the governor's Office of Emergency Services that was sent out Tuesday night. They will not have any contact with other Asilomar guests, staff and the general public during the mandatory quarantine.
On Wednesday, Pacific Grove City Manager Ben Harvey issued a statement saying that the four passengers will not be allowed to leave their hotel rooms during the quarantine period.
The state's announcement said that "up to 24 passengers" will stay at Asilomar. As of Tuesday evening, only four passengers were at the Conference Grounds, according to Harvey. He says he does not know if more passengers will be brought to the facility they are staying in, which can accommodate up to 24 people.
The passengers disembarked in Oakland on Tuesday morning beginning at 8am, and were screened at hospitals in the Bay Area. The passengers who are being quarantined at Asilomar do not need hospitalization, according to a press release from Monterey County.
According to the county's press release, specially trained teams will accompany the cruise ship passengers and attend to their needs during their quarantine period.
"We are working with federal and state officials to make sure every step is taken to protect the health of our community," said Edward Moreno, Monterey County health officer, in the county's release.
Harvey found out that the passengers would be sent to state-owned Asilomar shortly after Gov. Gavin Newsom made the announcement at a press conference in Sacramento that was streamed online. Someone called Harvey to ask if he had heard about it, which he had not.
Harvey quickly got on the phone with the Office of Emergency Services for a conference call with state and county officials, but says he still knows a limited amount about the details.
He says he was told the passengers are coming from Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield and are "not sick enough to be in the hospital, yet can't go home." They could stay up to 14 days, and that could be extended to 30.
The state will attend to all the passengers' medical needs and will provide security. Pacific Grove Police Department and the P.G. Fire Department have been notified.
"We’re coordinating with them closely because its in our jurisdiction and we want to keep everyone safe," Harvey says.
"The nation and indeed the rest of the world is watching how our community reacts to this situation," Monterey County Supervisor Mary Adams, whose district includes Pacific Grove, said in the OES press release. "We have an opportunity to provide an example of a compassionate humanitarian response."
"Calm, compassion and understanding for the situation is urged at this time," Harvey said in his announcement on Wednesday. He said the city will post regular updates to its website, Facebook page and the social sharing site Nextdoor.com.
Harvey stressed that it was a state decision to bring the passengers to Asilomar, a state-owned facility. He encouraged people to contact the OES at caloes.ca.gov/Cal-OES-Divisions/About-Cal-OES/Cal-OES-Contacts.
The Grand Princess was forced to circle the ocean west of San Francisco for several days after it was learned that a passenger on a previous cruise in February tested positive for the virus and died. On March 5, 45 passengers and crew were tested using test kits flown in by helicopter and on March 7, officials announced that 21 of them had tested positive for COVID-19.
The ship was allowed to dock at the Port of Oakland at noon on Monday, after precautions were taken to fence off the area where the ship would dock among other measures.
According to state and federal officials, 407 people disembarked from the ship on Monday including 173 U.S. residents and 234 Canadians. Of the 173 U.S. residents, 149 were transported to Travis Air Force Base, 24 of them by ambulance.
The first wave of passengers to disembark were those who needed the greatest medical needs, although not all for COVID-19, according to a press release from the Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
In an statement released on Sunday, state officials said that California residents not requiring acute medical care would go to a federally run isolation facility within California for testing and isolation. Non-Californians would be transported to federal facilities in other states.
The crew was to remain on board for quarantine and treatment. Officials said the ship would stay in the Port of Oakland only for the duration of disembarking passengers, then leave as soon as possible for an unnamed destination.
"Almost 1,000 of the ship’s passengers are Californians.They have been through a great deal of stress and were potentially exposed to this virus through no fault of their own," that state's press release reads.
(1) comment
This is an ill-considered decision to bring cruise passengers who are potentially infected with the novel COVID-19 virus to a community with many vulnerable senior citizen residents. Medical knowledge is quickly evolving regarding this deadly virus for which there is no cure. It's far more hardy and virulent than originally thought - see article in NY Post today. Mary Adams seems to be clearly confused about the issue as she opines about "the world watching" and "compassionate and humanitarian response." These passengers have not lost their homes in a fire. This is not a blanket drive for them. Some assertiveness and push back to Governor Newsom on behalf of her constituents' public health interests would have been appreciated, instead of meaningless, condescending blather.
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