U.S. Navy Coronavirus Quarantine Could Get Ugly
The U.S. Navy’s new plan to preemptively self-quarantine ships in the Pacific region, where they will remain at sea for 14 days over fears about the 2019 novel coronavirus, sparked concerns of disastrous consequences mirroring the explosion of cases on a cruise ship off Japan.
It was almost fitting that, hours after the plan went public, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Friday it had confirmed two more cases of the deadly disease in Americans who were rescued from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
As of Friday, there were 62 confirmed cases of the virus in the U.S. One of those cases—a severely ill person in northern California who had not traveled abroad—marked the first infection of unknown origin on American soil, while 14 patients came through the American health system after traveling to China or having close contact with someone who had. The rest, aside from the 44 cases from the cruise ship, were repatriated individuals who fled the vicinity of the virus’s origin in China on State Department-chartered planes.
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