Over 300 American cruise ship passengers that arrived overnight on charter flights from Japan have been quarantined at U.S. military bases in California and Texas. Fourteen of the passengers aboard the flights have tested positive for coronavirus.
One of the planes landed at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California right before midnight, while a second plane touched down at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas early Monday morning. Reports indicate the passengers will be quarantined on the bases for two weeks.
Japanese troops used 14 buses to help transport 340 of the 380 American passengers aboard the Diamond Princess from Yokohama port to Tokyo’s Haneda airport, according to Japan’s Defense Minister Taro Kono.
After ten cases of coronavirus were reported on February 4, a 14-day quarantine was declared the next day and scheduled to end on Wednesday, February 19. However, the U.S. arranged for an early evacuation because it felt its passengers were no longer safe from the virus.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the initial quarantine had failed:
“The quarantine process failed. I mean, I’d like to sugarcoat it and try to be diplomatic about it, but it failed. People were getting infected on that ship. Something went awry in the process of the quarantining on that ship. I don’t know what it was, but a lot of people got infected on that ship.”
Despite the good news of being able to leave the cruise ship, the passengers are required to go through another 14 days of quarantine at the military bases. The 14 passengers that already tested positive for coronavirus were kept in isolation from the other passengers during the flight.
Additionally, the American evacuees that landed at Travis Air Force Base will be housed in a different location from the other 200 Americans that were already being quarantined at the base. According to officials, Travis airmen will have no contact with the passengers.
There are plans for passengers from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and Italy to be evacuated from the cruise ship as well. Both Canada and Hong Kong plan to require its passengers to go through a second 14-day quarantine.
