SACRAMENTO – The State of California has been working in partnership with the federal government to aid in the safe return of passengers from the Grand Princess. The entire mission is centered around protecting the health of the passengers, and ensuring that when the passengers disembark, the public health of the United States, the State of California, and partner communities is protected.
Together, the United States Government and the State of California asked the City of Oakland and the Port of Oakland to partner in this mission. The mission will be a joint federal and state effort, with local support. The federal government and its contractors are already preparing the site for disembarkment. As soon as tomorrow, the ship will begin disembarking passengers at the Port of Oakland. The ship will only be docked during the duration of the disembarkment.
These passengers will not be released into the general public. Passengers who require acute medical treatment and hospitalization will be transported to health care facilities in California. If passengers do not require acute medical care following health screenings, those who are California residents will go to a federally run isolation facility within California for testing and isolation, while non-Californians will be transported by the federal government to facilities in other states. The crew will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship, but importantly, the ship will only stay in Port of Oakland for the duration of disembarkment. This ship will depart Oakland as soon as possible and will remain elsewhere for the duration of the crew’s quarantine.
Almost 1000 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.
After careful review of all options, the Port of Oakland was selected as the best site for the ship to disembark. There are limited docks that will be able to dock a ship of that size, and the Port of Oakland location was the easiest to seal off, securely move passengers toward their isolation destinations and protect the safety of the public.
“The City of Oakland, Alameda County and the Port of Oakland are stepping up in a major way, and their residents deserve universal praise. They are showing the world what makes our state great – coming to the rescue of thousands of people trapped aboard this ship and helping tackle a national emergency,” said Governor Gavin Newsom.
“Oakland’s role in this operation is to support our state and federal authorities as they conduct a critical public health mission to help those impacted by the COVID-19 virus,” said Mayor Libby Schaaf. “I appreciate Governor Newsom’s leadership and have been assured no one will be quarantined in Oakland, nor will any passengers be released into the general public. True to our community values, Oakland is a safe harbor for all.”
“The Port will provide assistance as necessary for the safe disembarkation of the passengers,” said Danny Wan, Director of the Port of Oakland. “There has been close coordination to assure that port operations, port workers and the community are not impacted.”
“The health of our Bay Area community is our top concern, and we’ve been working across federal and state agencies to protect it,” said Colleen Chawla, Alameda County Public Health Officer.
“With a thousand California residents on the ship, it only makes sense that we all work together to help those in this crisis and ensure that they are quarantined, tested and make their way home when it is safe to do so,” said Senator Nancy Skinner.
“California values mean protecting the public and helping those in a crisis. We’re doing both. We are committed to supporting our federal and local health officials to help our fellow Californians get tested and be healthy, and to prevent any exposure to the general public,” said Assemblymember Rob Bonta.
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Thank you
Thank you for this information. For how long
will the debarking California Residents be quarantined?
I have two friends on that ship. Thanks
What about the CA residents quarantined since JANUARY from the Diamond Princess Cruise to Japan? There are still people in isolation testing positive for the virus. I do not understand why there is a 14-24 day window for contagious spread but there are definite cases of people STILL being contagious 6 weeks after exposure. Is the CDC just downplaying the time frame to prevent a huge panic?
RJ – great question. I have a call put into the CDC to ask. Can you tell me where you learned of their ongoing quarantine?
Regards,
Lisa Krieger
Science/Medicine
San Jose Mercury News/East Bay Times
The Diamond Princess was not in quarantine in January. It was sailing on open waters as normal.
* Feb 1, Hong Kong emailed them that a passenger tested positive for the virus. No one read it. The ship’s doctor found out about it on social media the next day.
* Feb 3, the ship arrived in Yokohama, but passengers were not yet quarantined because they were being tested for the virus.
* Feb 5, when 10 passengers tested positive, Japanese officials put the ship into quarantine. Quarantine lasts for 14 days after the final infected person recovers. But the infection kept spreading.
* Feb 16, some American passengers from the ship were flown to California’s Travis air force base because the ship quarantine failed. The quarantine clock had to be completely reset. 14 more days in isolation.
* Mar 4, the final passengers at at Travis were released to go home. Where are the others who are still in quarantine?
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In your public statement you say that ships will not be sailing for 60 days while steps are taken to get rid of any virus germs. Since the Grand Princess was still at Port Oakland & disembarking passengers on May 8, how could the 60 days end prior to May 10? Surely there must be extra time allowed for travel back to the site where this sanitizing ++ will be done after disembarking & dealing with medical authorities is completed. And yet the Alaska cruise on May 10 is still scheduled! Please don’t hurry this process & put people in danger again.You are moving in the right direction, so please don’t release this ship so soon.
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