The Washington Post - 18.03.2020

WEDNESDAy, MARCH 18 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST eZ re A

The coronavirus outbreak

Despite the woman’s respirato-

ry distress, the Costa Luminosa

ship continued across the Atlan-

tic bound for Europe. Passengers

were told early into the voyage

that because of the outbreak, the

ship would not head to Italy, but

that stops in the Canary Islands

and France were still planned,

according to what passengers

have told relatives.

Carrara, the cruise line official,

said that isolation and room ser-

vice rules were put in place Sun-

day, the day after the cruise com-

pany was informed of two posi-

tive cases involving passengers

on the current cruise.

“Other measures had already

been implemented in the days

before, including isolation of the

close contacts of the suspect cases

and the cancellation of several on

board activities,” she said.

The company said it learned

that passengers from a previous

cruise on the ship had tested

positive on Friday and had

stepped up sanitation proce-

dures.

However, several Americans

whose parents are aboard said

that passengers continued to eat

communal meals and freely roam

the ship until Sunday. Only then

were they told that passengers

should isolate in their rooms and

that meals would be delivered to

their doors, they said.

Ye vgeniy Sverdlik, whose in-

laws are on board, said they and

other passengers have developed

coughs. Sverdlik said that late

Monday, his father-in-law, Alex-

ander Smirnov, 67, had reported

that he had a fever, as well.

He said that a few hours later,

Smirnov reported that his

t emperature had returned to nor-

mal.

“It’s definitely terrifying. It’s

been challenging to get any infor-

mation,” said Sverdlik, of Albany,

Calif.

Costa Cruises said that staff

members are going cabin to cabin

taking the temperatures of pas-

sengers and crew members and

reporting the results to doctors

on board. Anyone with an elevat-

ed temperature is seen by a doc-

tor as soon as possible, the com-

pany said.

Ashley Ecker, 41, of San Diego,

said her parents have reported

that the ship’s crew members

appear shaken by the situation

and overwhelmed by the need to

deliver food to every cabin.

When her parents had received

no breakfast by 11 a.m. Monday,

her mother left h er cabin to deter-

mine whether there was a prob-

lem, encountering an elderly man

in the hall who said he was dia-

betic and had not had a meal in 18

hours, Ecker said.

“They’re in good spirits, which

helps. I just get very worried that

one morning, the message is go-

ing to be that they don’t f eel well,”

she said.

Shawn Dawley, 4 6, a retired Air

Force lieutenant colonel who is

on board with his wife, said that

by Tuesday, the crew had ap-

peared to work out kinks in the

food delivery process and had

also increased efforts to keep pas-

sengers informed during a rapid-

ly changing situation.

“The captain, the crew and the

cruise line is operating in an

extremely dynamic environment

with layers of variable,” he said.

“The crew is doing an admirable

job of maintaining a single sheet

of music from which we can all

sing.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

James McAuley in Paris and Hannah

sampson in Washington contributed

to this report.

BY ROSALIND S. HELDERMAN

AND TOM HAMBURGER

More than 200 Americans are
among more than 1,400 people on
a cruise ship that was barred from
disembarking passengers in
the Spanish Canary Islands on
Sunday as nations worldwide im-
pose lockdowns and close borders
to guard against the coronavirus.
The Costa Luminosa, operated
by a subsidiary of Carnival Corp.,
is one of a number of cruise ships
unable to find ports willing to
accept thousands of passengers
as the crisis intensifies. All major
ocean and river cruise lines
around the world have temporar-
ily suspended new voyages to try
to contain the outbreak, which
has infected passengers and crew
members on two Carnival-owned
Princess Cruise ships, as well as
other cruise lines.
The Costa Luminosa passed
through the Strait of Gibraltar on
Tuesday and was headed toward
its next scheduled stop in south-
ern France, but it remains unclear
what will happen when it arrives.
France began a lockdown Tues-
day ordered by President Em-
manuel Macron.
There are 233 Americans
aboard, the company said. Some
passengers are growing increas-
ingly anxious, according to rela-
tives who have spoken with them.
A number have developed
coughs, and one woman told her
daughter that the crew appeared
overwhelmed by the need to de-
liver food to all the cabins. Symp-
toms of the coronavirus include
coughing, fever and shortness of
breath.
Costa Cruises, which operates
the ship, said in a statement that
there was a delay in organizing
room service for the first meal
when passengers were seques-
tered in their cabins but that food
delivery is now running smooth-
ly.
The company said three pas-
sengers who disembarked the
ship since Feb. 29 have t ested
positive for covid-19, the disease
caused by the coronavirus. Three
more passengers were allowed to
disembark in the Canary Islands
on Sunday after complaining of
breathing difficulties or a fever,
but the Spanish government
would not allow other passengers
to disembark because the nation’s
ports were closed, the company
said.
Rossella Carrara, a vice presi-
dent of the Costa line, said in an
email to The Washington Post on
Tuesday afternoon that “at the
moment the health situation on
board is under control, with no
need for medical disembarka-
tions.”
The ship, she said, is sailing off
the Spanish Coast heading to
Marseille, France, in hopes of
docking and disembarking pas-
sengers there on Thursday. It is
not clear how French authorities
will handle the situation. The
French Embassy in Washington
did not respond to a request for
comment Tuesday.
Starting at noon on Tuesday,
France was under total lockdown
under the orders of Macron, who
addressed the nation in a somber
speech the night before. “We are
at war,” he said, noting that the
restrictions he was imposing
were unprecedented during
peacetime. “A sanitary war.”
The terms of the lockdown
allow people to leave their homes
to buy food, visit pharmacies or
doctors and to exercise — but not
in groups. T o pass through police
checkpoints, all people are re-
quired to present “attestation”
forms certifying the essential na-
ture of their trips outside their
homes.
Cruise line officials said they
were communicating with
French authorities Tuesday, dis-
cussing disembarkation proce-
dures.
The Costa Luminosa first set
out from Fort Lauderdale on
March 5 on an itinerary sched-
uled to take it through the Carib-
bean and then on to Europe, with
a final destination of Italy.
During a previous voyage, an
Italian man complained of heart
trouble and was taken off the ship
in the Cayman Islands on Feb. 29,
Costa Cruises said in a statement.
He later tested positive for the
coronavirus and has since died.
On the current voyage, an Italian
woman who disembarked in
Puerto Rico on March 8 after
complaining of breathing trouble
has also since tested positive for
the virus, as has her husband,
who was traveling with her, the
company said.

Ship carrying 233 Americans is turned away in Spain

JUAn MedInA/reUters

Guests wear face masks on March 6 outside the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel, which is under lockdown because of the coronavirus, in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.

Three passengers tested

positive for virus after

disembarking earlier

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