Thousands of people on the Princess Cruises' Grand Princess ship are waiting to disembark in California in what is expected to be a multi-day process. Twenty-one people on the ship have tested positive for coronavirus, including 19 crew members.
Fences were being installed at an 11-acre site at the Port of Oakland, as authorities readied flights and buses to whisk the more than 2,000 passengers aboard the Grand Princess to military bases or their home countries for a 14-day quarantine. Including crew members, there are more than 3,500 on the ship hailing from 54 countries.
The ship has 2,421 passengers and 1,113 crew members. Crew members will remain on the ship if they do not need immediate medical attention.
“We’re making every effort to get them off the ship as safely and quickly as possible,” said Dr. John Redd of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who urged passengers to remain in their rooms.
The Department of State was working with the home countries of several hundred passengers to arrange their repatriation, including nearly 240 from Canada.
One guest was disembarked Sunday for medical reasons unrelated to the novel coronavirus, Princess Cruises said in a statement provided overnight by Public Relations Director Negin Kamali.
"All of us at Princess Cruises offer our sincere gratitude and appreciation to the federal, state and local authorities who are coordinating, collaborating and activating resources and personnel in support of this response to provide care and attend to the health and well-being of our guests and crew," Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises, said in a statement.
As they wait for disembarkation, Princess said will let guests step out for fresh air and sunlight, as approved by the CDC, "made possible in-part by instructing guests to adhere to social distancing."
The cruise line delivered several hundred prescriptions to passengers over the weekend; it prioritized the most urgent. Princess is working on processingadditional prescriptions and waiting for information on when those can be sent to the Grand Princess.
Passengers Steven and Michele Smith of Paradise, California, said they hope their time spent on the ship in quarantine will count toward the 14 days they are expected to isolate themselves. But they said officials have not yet provided an answer.
“We would love to get credit for the three or four days we’ve spent in our cabin,” Steven Smith said.
Contributing: Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus: Grand Princess disembarkation process could take several days, port readies for passengers