Twenty-one people including 19 crew members and two passengers tested positive for coronavirus or COVID-19 on the Grand Princess, announced Mike Pence, Vice President of United States of America on Friday.
Pence added, "Those that will need to be quarantined will be quarantined. Those who will require medical help will receive it."Testing kits are being dropped by helicopter and all the passengers will be tested, said Pence.
3,500 passengers struck on the cruise
More than 3,500 passengers from around 50 countries with crew members are stuck on the cruise that moored off from San Francisco. Grand Princess is in the news since a man died in its previous voyage due to coronavirus. Californian authorities did not allow the cruise to sail back to San Francisco from Hawaii due to the same reason.
The cruise was on 15 days trip but was cut short and scheduled to return to San Francisco this Wednesday. More than 35 people developed flu-like symptoms where former Democratic candidate, Dena Grayson posted to Twitter that all the passengers will be quarantined.
Similar cases
In a similar case like this, Costa Fortuna ship with 173 Italians was blocked to enter in Phuket. Since Italy is the fourth most affected country with more than 4,500 cases confirmed, Thailand had imposed restrictions on the landing of Italians due to coronavirus.
Whereas Carnival cruise line with its headquarter in Florida is offering passengers up to $200 worth of extra credit if they keep their bookings through May. This credit can be used for drinks, excursions, and other purchases made onboard.
Meanwhile, there have been more than 100,000 cases confirmed with around 3500 people died due to coronavirus outbreak globally. The US government is planning to take Grand Princess cruise to a non-commercial port where all the passengers will be tested.
Here is how Netizens are reacting on twitter
A passenger on the Grand Princess ship tells @markberman: "The thing I didn't like is President Trump wants to keep us on this Petri dish because he doesn't want his numbers to spike." https://t.co/fdbUwBvt6t
— Brady Dennis (@brady_dennis) March 7, 2020
Up until now, every mess Trump has skidded through was of his own making. #coronavirus is a bug he can’t control with nasty tweets, threatening lawsuits, pikes, or lies. There are 21 positive people on the Grand Princess via @washingtonpost pic.twitter.com/JwPV79zaCR
— Barbara Malmet (@B52Malmet) March 6, 2020
I would be scared as Hell if I were a passenger on the Grand Princess.
Trump made it very clear that he's MUCH MORE concerned with "Keeping his numbers Low" than the lives of those souls onboard.
He's a MENACE.
That could be ANY of US on that Ship.
Or the Next Plane.
— The Resistor Sister ♥️??? (@the_resistor) March 7, 2020
A cruise ship is literally a FLOATING PETRI DISH and yet Trump wants to keep them all quarantined on the Grand Princess ship.
Our Trump admin. has, to date, shown nothing but complete INCOMPETENCE regarding the coronavirus pandemic...with Trump adding insult to injury, DAILY.
— Jason Lincoln Jeffers (@shamanartist) March 7, 2020
Trump just admitted that he essentially kidnapped the passengers and crew of the Grand Princess cruise ship to make his coronavirus stats look better. https://t.co/EqELiCo5LE
— Lindsay Beyerstein (@beyerstein) March 6, 2020
The most ridiculous thing that I heard on the news today was Trump saying the people quarantined on The Grand Princess Cruise needed to stay on the ship so that it doesn’t increase our #COVIDー19 numbers. #OneVoice1 #CoronaVirusUpdate #TrumpLiesAboutCoronavirus pic.twitter.com/XSVwlUqXgJ
— Maverick (@Isellmpls) March 7, 2020
