Most of the passengers who disembarked from the Grand Princess Cruise ship that was in limbo off the California coast earlier this month are now refusing to be tested for COVID-19 while in quarantine, according to a new report.
The ship, carrying 3,500 people, had been idling about 10 miles off the Northern California coast before docking March 9. At least 21 people aboard — 19 crew members and two passengers — were confirmed to be infected following on-board testing of 45 people.
The rest of the passengers were taken into Travis Air Force base for a 14-day quarantine that is set to end early next week. But now, two-thirds of them are declining coronavirus testing — largely because they can’t wait to go home, KGO-TV reported.
“We didn’t know for sure when we would get the results,” Carmen Kilcullen, 86, who is quarantined with her 84-year-old husband Larry, told the outlet about her decision to decline. “In case results came in later, we’d have to stay.”
When asked if the couple is interested in knowing their status, Carmen said, “Well, we don’t have any symptoms.”
“They take our temperature, the medics take our temperature twice a day and we have — everything’s normal,” she added.
But the station’s medical expert Dr. Alok Patel said that it’s not uncommon for people to have no symptoms and still test positive.
“And this is really tricky because we’re still trying to figure out how long these asymptomatic people could still spread the infection,” he said, adding that the incubation period could be longer than 14 days.
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People held in quarantine at Travis are given “the opportunity to be tested for COVID-19,” and are not forced to do so, according to a notice issued to them.
But Patel said the testing may no longer be an option if the outbreak escalates.
Passengers Alan and Fran Brast of Danville, Calif., told the outlet they agreed to be tested and are expecting results to come in long before it’s time to leave the base Tuesday.
“We definitely want to know whether or not we’re putting anyone else at risk, and want to make sure we are protecting our family and friends and anybody else we come in contact with,” Alan Brast said. “To us, it was important to know what the score is.”
Last week, four major cruise lines, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and MSC, all agreed to suspend outbound cruises for 30 days at President Trump’s request.
