SAN FRANCISCO -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the mayor of Oakland on Sunday sought to reassure the public that none of the passengers from a ship with at least 21 cases of coronavirus will be released into the public before undergoing a 14-day quarantine.
The coronavirus continues to spread across the United States, with Missouri, Vermont and Washington, D.C., reporting their first cases late Saturday and Virginia announcing a second case Sunday. The outbreak has now reached more than 30 states, with nationwide cases surpassing 500 and U.S. deaths hitting 21.
The Grand Princess cruise ship carrying more than 3,500 people from 54 countries is expected to dock in Oakland, in the east San Francisco Bay, today. It was idling off the coast Sunday as officials prepared a port site.
"This is a time that we must be guided by facts and not fears, and our public deserves to know what's going on," said Mayor Libby Schaaf. She stressed that she had received assurances that the ship would stay in the port for the shortest time possible. Officials said it could take up to three days to unload, with those needing acute care or hospitalization getting off first.
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The port at Oakland was chosen because of its proximity to an airport and a military base, Newsom said. U.S. passengers will be transported to military bases in California, Georgia and Texas. All will be tested for the covid-19 virus and will remain under a 14-day quarantine, federal officials said.
The 1,113-member crew, 19 of whom have tested positive for the virus, will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship, which will dock elsewhere, Newsom said.
"That ship will turn around -- and they are currently assessing appropriate places to bring that quarantined ship -- but it will not be here in the San Francisco Bay," he said.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, tweeted that Grand Princess passengers were expected to be quarantined at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. The base has been a quarantine site for evacuees from the coronavirus epicenter in Wuhan, China, and others exposed to the virus aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship last month.
Newsom warned that Californians should expect more cancellations and closures, after the largest school district in Northern California canceled classes for a week when it was discovered that a family in the district was exposed to covid-19. The district has nearly 64,000 students.
WASHINGTON CASES
Seventeen coronavirus deaths have been reported to officials in King County, Wash., where an outbreak at the Life Care Center in Kirkland has ravaged the elderly, strained staff and left families deeply worried. As of late Saturday, all but one of the county's deaths were associated with the nursing facility, authorities said. The elderly are most vulnerable to the infections.
The two new fatalities announced Sunday are a woman in her 80s who died Friday and a man in his 90s who died Thursday. Both had been hospitalized.
Washington has been hit hardest by the virus in the United States, with more than 100 cases and now 18 deaths. A patient also died in California, and Florida announced two deaths Friday, the first outside the West Coast.
King County's cases rose by 12 through Saturday to 83.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency Sunday after the number of confirmed cases doubled from the previous day to 14.
The State Department was working with the home countries of several hundred Grand Princess passengers to arrange their repatriation.
Canada announced it was sending a plane to collect nearly 240 Canadians on the ship. Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement Sunday that those who have not shown any symptoms of the virus will be taken to a military base in Trenton, Ontario, for a two-week quarantine.
The Grand Princess had been forbidden to dock in San Francisco amid evidence that it was the breeding ground for a cluster of at least 20 cases that resulted in at least one death after a previous voyage.
The ship was heading from Hawaii to San Francisco when it was held off the California coast Wednesday so people with symptoms could be tested for the virus.
Grant Tarling, chief medical officer for Carnival Corp., said it's believed that a 71-year-old Northern California man who later died of the virus was probably sick when he boarded the ship for a Feb. 11 cruise to Mexico.
The passenger visited the medical center the day before disembarking with symptoms of respiratory illness, he said. Others in several states and Canada who were on that voyage also have tested positive.
The passenger probably infected his dining room server, who also tested positive for the virus, Tarling said, as did two people traveling with the man. Two passengers now on the ship who have the virus were not on the previous cruise, he said.
Another cruise ship was being held off the coast of Florida on Sunday awaiting test results on whether two crew members who transferred there from the Grand Princess have contracted the virus. The Coast Guard delivered testing kits to the Regal Princess on Sunday morning and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a "no-sail order" for the ship.
GLOBAL TOLL
To contain the coronavirus, Italy will limit movement across much of its northern region, including the cities of Milan and Venice. The measures, the most drastic outside of China, place significant restrictions on 16 million people in a broad area that is Italy's economic engine.
After mass testing uncovered more than 7,300 infections, Italy now has registered more cases of the virus than any country but China, where the disease is in retreat. The death toll in Italy rose to 366.
Around the globe, more events were canceled or conducted privately, from the pope's Sunday service to a Formula One car race in Bahrain to a sumo competition in Japan, where wrestlers arrived at the arena in face masks and were required to use hand sanitizer before entering. In Saudi Arabia, officials announced all schools and universities would be closed starting today, following the lead of other Gulf countries.
Questions grew about whether to maintain U.S. presidential campaign rallies and other potential "super-spreading" gatherings, as the virus enters new states.
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte signed a quarantine decree early Sunday for the country's prosperous north. Areas under lockdown include Milan, Italy's financial hub and the main city in Lombardy, and Venice, the main city in the neighboring Veneto region. The extraordinary measures will be in place until April 3.
Tourists in the region, including those from abroad, were free to head home, the Italian transport ministry said, noting that airports and train stations remained open.
The pope, who has been ill, held his Sunday blessing by video instead of in person, even though he was not directly affected by the lockdown. He described feeling like he was "in a cage."
The United States could follow Italy's plan, according to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He told Fox News's Chris Wallace on Sunday that it's possible for the country to implement a policy similar to Italy's.
Iran on Sunday reported 49 deaths and more than 700 cases of coronavirus over the past 24 hours, while Saudi Arabia suspended travel to and from a key eastern province and ordered businesses and government offices there closed after confirming four new cases of the coronavirus Sunday, bringing the total number of infections to 11.
Chinese authorities announced 44 new cases of coronavirus Saturday -- a smaller daily rise than countries like South Korea -- as cases continue to taper off sharply in the country where the epidemic first broke out.
An attendee at the Conservative Political Action Conference -- a major annual gathering held in Maryland in February and attended by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence -- tested positive for the virus Saturday, the host organization said.
The brief interaction occurred nearly two weeks ago at the American Conservative Union-hosted conference in Maryland, which many White House officials attended. American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp said on Fox & Friends Weekend that on Saturday night he had a phone conversation with the patient, who is being treated in New Jersey and "seems to be on the mend." The conservative grass-roots leader said he has been talking to his own doctor and taking precautions.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said Sunday he is staying home after shaking the hand of the infected person at the conference.
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., said he also had contact with the patient at the conference. He will close his Washington office this week while he and three staff members self-quarantine.
Information for this article was contributed by Olga R. Rodriguez, Christopher Weber, Juliet Williams, Robert Gillies, Frances D'Emilio, Angela Charlton, Nicole Winfield, Trish Thomas, Aya Batrawy, Ken Moritsugu, Yuri Kageyama, Chris Blake, Adam Geller, Maria Sanminiatelli, Hyung-jin Kim, Ashok Sharma, Anna Johnson, David Rising and Jonathan Poet of The Associated Press; and by Derek Hawkins, Gerry Shih, Paul Schemm, Lateshia Beachum, Kim Bellware, Hannah Knowles and Mark Berman of The Washington Post.
A Section on 03/09/2020