‘I’m worried he won’t survive.’ Daughter of 90-year-old cruiser wants him off ship
With every passing hour, Lisa Egan of Colorado becomes increasingly worried about her 90-year-old father’s exposure to the novel coronavirus on the Grand Princess cruise ship.
Cliff Egan is one of 3,533 people stuck aboard as the ship sails back and forth off the coast of California, waiting for directions from the U.S. government after 21 people, 19 of them crew, tested positive Friday for the disease caused by the coronavirus, COVID-19.
Cliff is no newbie to cruising. Lisa estimates that he and her late mother went on more than 40 cruises, usually with Princess Cruises, owned by Miami-based Carnival Corp. This cruise on the Grand Princess was his first since his wife died last year. He turned 90 on board.
“He likes the being waited on hand and foot portion,” Lisa said. “They like the pace of cruise travel. You’re not really in a rush to go anywhere. They’ve always loved to travel, they’ve been all over the world.”
Before Cliff boarded the Grand Princess on Feb. 21 in San Francisco, Lisa said she talked to him about the risk of coronavirus. But since it wasn’t an international trip, except for a stop in Baja California, Mexico, they agreed he would be OK.
Then, early Thursday morning a note from Princess Cruises slipped under his cabin door. The ship was not going to Mexico. Instead it was headed back to California because someone on the previous cruise had died of COVID-19 near Sacramento.
Later that day, the California National Guard loaded a helicopter with test kits and flew them to the ship. Health officials on the ship swabbed 46 people and then flew the tests back to a state lab.
After lunch, the captain came on the loudspeaker and told all passengers to stay in their rooms to wait out the duration of the cruise. Cliff is in a cabin alone. Next door are a friend and her partner, who are in their 60s. Crew members are leaving trays of food outside his door, but his balance issues prevent him from being able to bend down and pick the trays up, Lisa said. Breaking with protocol, Cliff’s friend in the cabin beside him is helping him reach the meals.
On Friday, another passenger who sailed on the previous cruise died in California.
Vice President Mike Pence, tasked by the president to spearhead the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak, read the test results from the current cruise on live television: 21 people tested positive, 19 of them crew. The ship will go to a “noncommercial port” this weekend where everyone on board will be tested, Pence said. Princess Cruises distributed forms Friday for people to fill out the prescription medications they need if they are to stay on the ship for 14 days.
Lisa’s heart sank. Cliff is in good health for someone who is 90, but his age makes him vulnerable to the virus.
“My biggest concern is that my dad’s going to have this and isn’t going to survive it,” she said, crying. “I’m not worried about if he has to be quarantined for a couple of weeks, we’ll get through that. I’m worried he won’t survive if he has the virus.”
Asked what should happen to the people on board the ship, President Donald Trump said he prefers they stay on board.
“I don’t need to have the [infection] numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault, and wasn’t the fault of the people on the ship,” he told the Washington Post. “I’d rather have the people stay on, personally.”
Coronavirus is spread through contact between people within six feet of each other, especially through coughing and sneezing that expels respiratory droplets that land in the mouths or noses of people nearby. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it’s possible to catch the disease COVID-19 by touching something that has the virus on it, and then touching your own face, “but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”
The disease is especially dangerous to the elderly and others with weaker immune systems.
Keeping everyone on board would be ignoring the lessons of the last cruise ship with COVID-19 cases, Lisa said. Nearly 700 people who were on the Diamond Princess cruise ship while it was quarantined for two weeks in February in Japan tested positive and six died.
“I’m worried they’re not going to let them off the ship and they’re going to get a lot more people sick,” Lisa said. “I’m hoping that won’t be the case. But mostly, I’m just scared.”
Pence will meet with cruise executives at Port Everglades Saturday to discuss the cruise industry’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. The administration is considering a cruise ship travel warning, Reuters reported, as it scrambles to contain the spread of the virus, which has infected more than 320 people and killed 14 in the U.S.
This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
