Another Cruise Ship Investigates Potential Coronavirus Outbreak

Another cruise ship has confirmed cases of coronavirus and will be held off the coast of California until tests are done.

The Grand Princess, a Princess Cruises liner, is moving towards San Francisco with 21 individuals on board with possible coronavirus symptoms.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Princess Cruises said a “small cluster” of cases were traced back to the ship’s previous trip in late February between San Francisco and Mexico, in which an elderly passenger became the first coronavirus fatality in California.

This comes after another Princess Cruises ship—the Diamond Princess—was docked and quarantined for two weeks in Yokohama, Japan as an increasing number of cases spawned from the boat.

The Grand Princess reportedly departed from San Francisco to Mexico from February 10-21, returned to San Francisco and left for Hawaii on February 21. Sixty-two passengers who went on the Mexico trip stayed on board for the Hawaii voyage, and one elderly passenger on the Mexico cruise reportedly became the California’s first coronavirus fatality.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and California Health Department announced earlier Wednesday that they were in the “process of evaluating” the Grand Princess.

The ship was ordered to dock in San Francisco, but California Gov. Gavin Newsom delayed the ship’s landing due to the probe.

Of the ship’s 2,600 guest and 1,150 crew capacity, Newsom said 11 passengers and 10 crew members were potentially infected with the virus.

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said the ship had “confirmed cases” of the flu-like virus.

“We at the very beginning of that, looking at the manifest to make sure we understand who’s gotten off the cruise and where they got off the cruise and we’re really involved in that entire contact follow up,” Redfield said.

Newsom says test coronavirus kits will be flown to the ship and samples will be sent to California’s public health lab in Richmond for testing.