@sue22: cruise ships are floating virus prisons 
right now. So how do we help the people onboard without letting the cruise industry off the hook?
Could the medical bills of anyone infected be directed to the cruise companies and they should have to pay everything in full? (not sure it’s appropriate)
If you wear a mask, do these three things
From CNN’s Jacqueline Howard
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to re-examine possible changes to its recommendations on the general public wearing face masks.
In the meantime, US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said that there are three things you should do if you decide to wear a mask.
He broke it down on the “Today” show on Wednesday:
Don’t touch your face: “If you’re going to wear a face covering, please try not to touch your face. Please be very, very careful about making sure you don’t touch your face,” Adams told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie.
Don’t use an N95: “If you’re going to wear a face covering, please save the N95 masks for healthcare workers who need them,” Adams said.
Stay at home: “Wearing a face covering does not mean that you don’t have to practice social distancing. The most important thing you can do is stay at home right now, and we don’t want people to feel like ‘OK I’m covering my face so now it’s OK for me to go out in public,’" he said.
Will coronavirus cases decrease in the summer? “It’s not like the weather,” former CDC official says.
From CNN’s Health Gisela Crespo
Dr. Tom Frieden, the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Covid-19 is “not like the weather” when asked if he expected cases to decrease in the summer.
Frieden appeared on “CBS This Morning" and said “we can’t expect seasons here,” However, he added the US “should be able to gradually reopen if we do the rights things.”
“Look at countries around the world that have been able to tamp this down and then gradually loosen the faucet and get back to a new normal, normal, but a new normal, but not open the floodgates,” Frieden said. “What does that mean? That means that people who are over the age of 60 or who have underlying medical problems may need to stay home for longer.”
US Surgeon General says “aggressive mitigation” helped Washington and California “flatten their curve”
From CNN Health’s Jacqueline Howard
The US coronavirus crisis has hit all 50 states but there is some good news, US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said on the “Today” show on Wednesday.
“The good news is that states like Washington, like California, countries like Italy, when they leaned into aggressive mitigation, they’re being able to flatten their curve and we know that if you do this that it usually takes about three to four weeks from the time you start to lean into it before you level it off,” Adams told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie. Washington and California were home to some of the earliest Covid-19 cases in the United States.
“We want nationally people to understand the importance of social distancing,” Adams said.
Yet each state has its own curve and “the governors get to make the decisions, but we’re going to give them the best possible guidance we can and that’s to stay at home and social distance," Adams said.
“Everyone is on a different place on their curve. Some places aren’t going to hit their peak until after 30 days and they’re going to need to continue social distancing. Other places that leaned in early may be able to relax some of their recommendations earlier.”
US social distancing guidelines would be better than “piecemeal approach,” doctor says
From CNN’s Amanda Watts
Dr. Leana Wen, former health commissioner for the city of Baltimore, said the United States’ “piecemeal approach” to social distancing is only delaying Americans getting back to normal.
Right now, states, counties and cities are deciding their own social distancing guidelines. Wen said a national response would be better.
“It is important to mention that the longer we have this piecemeal approach, the longer it will take for all of us to get back to normal,” Wen said, adding, “But the sooner we can get everything under control and having national coordinated response, the better it is.”
Wen said, “most people would speculate that we need at least 8 to 10 weeks of social distancing for this to work at all.”
"We also need the federal government to do a lot more, too. Because that rationing of ventilators, the rationing of supplies, that is also going to be what leads to unnecessary deaths. And every day that we waste is one more day that we could have been saving people instead,” Wen added.
Well this took long enough - CDC and WHO reviewing use of face masks by the general public.
Although any change in guidance would be unhelpful until the shortage is fixed.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/01/asia/coronavirus-mask-messaging-intl-hnk/index.html
NYPD commissioner: “We are scrambling” but still fighting crime
From CNN’s Adrienne Vogt
As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,400 NYPD employees have tested positive for coronavirus, a law enforcement source tells CNN.
6,172 uniformed officers – about 17% of the police department – are out sick, according to the source.
“It has been a clearly a difficult time for New York City as a whole. The message is to all New Yorkers that we’re all in this together,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said to CNN’s Jim Sciutto.
Shea said the NYPD is in “a constant state of planning” to respond to the coronavirus in the city and among officers.
“We are scrambling, but that shouldn’t have a negative connotation. We are able to handle many, many different tasks here. We’re still fighting crime,” Shea said, adding that officers are on patrol, as well as delivering food and calling domestic violence survivors.
“Right now, we’re in good shape in New York City. But the bottom line is anyone that can help will be asked upon to help to keep people safe,” Shea said when asked if state police may provide backup to city police in the future.
Projected 100,000 US coronavirus deaths “don’t have to be our reality,” Surgeon General says
From CNN Health’s Jacqueline Howard
While models show that the coronavirus pandemic could result in some 100,000 to 200,000 deaths in the United States, US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said on the “Today” show that level of death can be prevented.
“Those numbers don’t have to be a reality,” Adams told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday.
He continued: “Those projections are definitely sobering, but they don’t have to be our reality. If we really do our part — stay at home, social distance — then we can flatten our curve even below those projections, but it really depends on all of us," Adams said. “As surgeon general, I’m going to do my best to get you the information you need. We’re going to do our best as the Task Force to make sure the federal support is there, but we need state and we need local people to come together with federal support to make this possible.”
US Surgeon General on ventilators: “We’re trying to purchase what we can”
From CNN’s Jacqueline Howard
US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said on the “Today” show that he has been in talks with the head of the national stockpile to come up with a “better way” for states to access the ventilators that are needed to treat some of the sickest Covid-19 patients.
“We’re trying to work with governors to come up with a better way,” Adams told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie.
He continued: “We’re trying to purchase what we can for the stockpile and send it to places like New York that need it the most, but we’re also trying to make sure other states and governors can get priority purchasing at a reasonable rate," Adams said. "It’s one of the things that we’re working with to try to make sure the equipment can get to where it’s needed and in an efficient way and without price gouging.”
Most White House coronavirus task force members support Americans wearing masks in public
From CNN’s Kevin Liptak
Most members of President Trump’s coronavirus task force have come to agree that Americans should begin wearing face coverings in public and could issue formal guidance soon, people familiar with the matter said.
Trump signaled he was open to the idea during Tuesday’s briefing and members of the task force are working to draft recommendations on how to fashion the coverings to prevent spread of the virus.
Previously, some members of the task force — including Dr. Deborah Birx — cautioned in meetings against recommending Americans wear masks because of a fear it could lull them into a false sense of protection and prevent them from socially distancing.
But new insights into asymptomatic spread of the virus have led to a reconsideration of the guidance.
Among the issues discussed by the task force and the CDC have been how to teach Americans to wear masks and how to prevent a rush on medical-grade equipment still in short supply for hospitals.
There have also been discussions of the cultural shift that recommending masks would represent, since Americans — unlike citizens of some Asian countries — are not accustomed to wearing masks in public.
There have also been discussions of whether or not to call the recommended face coverings “masks.” Some have suggested referring to them simply as “face coverings” or “courtesy masks” to distinguish them from the medical masks needed by professionals.
He had to say goodbye to his mother over walkie-talkie as she died of coronavirus
From CNN’s Adrienne Vogt
CNN
A 42-year-old mother of six, raising her children alone in Washington state after their father died in 2012, died after contracting the coronavirus.
Sundee Rutter’s son Elijah Ross-Rutter, 20, said they were allowed behind a glass window outside her hospital room. They said final goodbyes via a walkie-talkie.
“It’s a moment that nobody really ever wants to be in. I told her I loved her. I told her everything is going to be all right with the kids," he said. “Us older siblings, we’re going to make sure everything’s OK with them and that they’re going to grow up to be some adults that my mom would want them to be.”
She survived stage 3 breast cancer and was declared cancer-free in January and after undergoing surgery and radiation.
“We were just starting to, you know, feel whole again … After this happened, it was just tragic,” Ross-Rutter told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota.
Ross-Rutter said his 24-year-old sibling will take custody over their other siblings, and they plan to stay together as a family. There is a GoFundMe set up to help support them.
It’s so discouraging. When a woman posted on a local board that she was upset at seeing teenagers walking down Main Street in groups, some of them holding hands, another woman posted: “Please stop judging people and spreading anger and hate. If there was ever a time to spread love, this is it. “ Idiot.
Nothing says “I love you” quite like a virus!
Cardiologists urge patients to keep taking blood pressure medications despite questions around coronavirus risk
(From CNN’s Jacqueline Howard)
Two new viewpoint papers published in the Journal of the American Heart Association today turn a spotlight on how certain blood pressure medications may be associated with more severe Covid-19 infections — but still, it is important that patients continue taking their medications as prescribed, they say.
The papers focus on the types of drugs known as ACE inhibitors or ACEIs and angiotensin receptor blockers or ARBs, which “upregulate” an enzyme called ACE2.
It turns out that the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 enters the body’s cells through ACE2. Therefore there has been some speculation that heart and blood pressure medications that influence ACE2 could put patients at increased risk of severe Covid-19 infections — but until more research is conducted, doctors urge patients to keep taking their medicine.
“Taken together, ACE2 plays a protective role in both cardiovascular diseases and acute lung injury. For uninfected patients, we tend to believe it is unnecessary to discontinue ACEIs/ARBs given the lack of evidence to support the hypothesis that ACEIs/ARBs might lead to an increased risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection,” authors Junyi Guo, Zheng Huang, Li Lin and Jiagao Lv wrote in one of the papers published Wednesday. The authors are from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus pandemic began.
They added that infected patients also should not discontinue their medications but there is no immediate need for an infected patient not already taking the medication to initiate use.
Both papers call for more research into this issue.
US Surgeon general says mask recommendations could change
From CNN’s Jacqueline Howard
US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams confirmed during an appearance on Good Morning America today that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is “taking another look” at whether healthy people should wear masks to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.
“Initially, the CDC, the World Health Organization and my office recommended against the general public wearing masks based on the best available science at the time in terms of whether or not it prevented the wearer from catching coronavirus,” Adams told ABC’s Robin Roberts.
Last month, Adams urged Americans to stop buying masks, tweeting, “They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”
But today, Adams health officials have learned more about the virus, which could prompt them to change recommendations.
“Now we’ve learned about this disease — and we’ve always said we’re going to learn more, we’re going to adjust — and we’ve learned there’s a fair amount of asymptomatic spread and so we’ve asked the CDC to take another look at whether or not having more people wear masks will prevent transmission of the disease to other people,” Adams said.
He added: “The CDC is looking at whether or not we should be recommending more people wear masks when they go out,” Adams said, adding a final point, “If you’re going to wear a face covering when you go out, please understand you still don’t need a N95 mask and if you take one of those N95 masks you may be taking it out of the hands of a health care worker who desperately needs it to care for patients.”
Study finds interventions have saved tens of thousands of lives in 11 European countries
From CNN’s Tim Lister
A large-scale study has found that early interventions, such as social distancing and severe restrictions on peoples’ movement, have been critical in restraining the spread of coronavirus and have already saved tens of thousands of lives across Europe.
Scientists at Imperial College London studied interventions in 11 European countries, and concluded that they “have together had a substantial impact on transmission.” They estimate “that interventions across all 11 countries will have averted 59,000 deaths up to 31 March.”
The Imperial College researchers estimate that in Italy 38,000 deaths have been averted (as of March 31 that is nearly four times the number of deaths recorded); and in Spain 16,000 – compared to a situation in which restrictions had not been introduced. In Italy’s case, they say, “despite mounting pressure on health systems, interventions have averted a health care catastrophe.”
The researchers caution against relaxing restrictions, saying that “many more deaths will be averted through ensuring that interventions remain in place until transmission drops to low levels.” And they warn, “for most of the countries considered here it remains too early to be certain that recent interventions have been effective.”
The Imperial College group also believes that the number of positively identified cases of coronavirus is probably much smaller than the overall rate of infection. “We estimate that there have been many more infections than are currently reported,” they say, “due to the focus on testing in hospital settings rather than in the community.”
In Italy, their results suggest that 5.9 million people had been infected as of March 28, or 9.8% of the population. For Spain, they believe 15% of the population has been infected.
The study does warn that “many interventions have occurred only recently, and their effects have not yet been fully observed due to the time lag between infection and death.” Germany, for example, is estimated to have one of the lowest “attack rates” at 0.7%, with 600,000 people infected. But it is at an earlier stage in coronavirus spread than Spain or Italy.
Across the 11 countries, the researchers estimate an average “attack” or infection rate of 4.9%, which they say implies “that the populations in Europe are not close to herd immunity.”
But they strike a note of hope in their conclusions, saying: “we cannot say for certain that the current measures have controlled the epidemic in Europe; however, if current trends continue, there is reason for optimism.”
Is your liquor store open in NY? NY came late to shut down and it looks like they didn’t shut down enough. People can’t buy toys and games in other states but in NY you can buy liquor? You have half of all cases in the country and probably will have half of the fatalities. Without NY, the country’s stat will look a lot better. Why don’t reporters ask Cuomo whether he thinks his shutting down late in NY had anything to do with the hardship NY is experiencing at present, the shortage, number of the cases and upcoming fatalities?
In California, our liquor and weed stores are open. I don’t think it’s a NY thing…
As in NY?
And what was the belief of the certain segment at the top in NY thinking?
Real question - why the heck has Governor Ron DeSantis not issued a state-wide stay at home?
People who left on cruises in early March may have heard about the virus, but would not have understood how serious the threat was. Even if they had heard dire predictions, they would also have heard that those predictions were not certainties.
And why would they take the predictions seriously? We can’t predict the weather very far out, let alone the climate. We can’t predict the stock market, or when the next recession will be. Maybe someone will predict correctly for the next month, but no one predicts correctly month after month after month, so who do you trust?
And why would you trust the news media to report accurately anyway? Anyone who has ever been involved in a situation that gets heavy media coverage knows how inaccurate and misleading most of it is.
I have sympathy for the people on those cruises. They chose wrongly, but we know that in hindsight. If you believe every threat the infotainment industry touts you’d not have left your home in the last decade.
I’m out of quarantine. But ‘normal’ isn’t normal in China anymore
Opinion by Devika Koppikar
Devika Koppikar teaches AP Psychology and English at an international Chinese high school program in Wuxi, about 80 miles west of Shanghai. Previously, she was the press secretary to the late US Congressman Elijah E. Cummings and a communications consultant in Washington, DC.
Wuxi, China (CNN)My Facebook feed bulged with post-lockdown food fantasies. But if there’s anything I’ve learned after emerging from my own two-week quarantine in China, it’s that we can’t simply click our ruby slippers and return to life BC – before Covid-19.
I’m from Woodbridge, Virginia, and I’ve lived in China for four years. I was traveling in Australia and New Zealand over the Chinese New Year when I heard that the coronavirus had raged through the city of Wuhan, about 500 miles west of where I live. I got repeated notices from the US Embassy that “recommended,” but did not mandate, that Americans leave China. As my return date neared, many colleagues decided not to go back until the virus madness subsided. “Any place but China is safe,” they said.
When I heard that everyone entering China must go through a mandatory, sealed quarantine I had a sense of doom. What if I needed to escape? How would I get food? Another expat who was in the middle of her own lockdown convinced me that it was manageable. “You’re in your own home with all amenities and they bring you food and other supplies as needed,” she said.
I felt I needed to get back to my students. As we would not be allowed to enter our campus until we completed the two-week quarantine, I felt the sooner I did it the sooner I’d be able to get back to my regular routine…
I entered my 14-day quarantine welcoming it as a spiritual and psychological challenge. I chronicled my in-home journey on the Afro website, describing my life in quarantine.
On February 22, I completed my time in isolation and broke the barrier that had concealed me in my apartment unit for two weeks. Interestingly, I had not been as confined as I thought. I’d been under the impression that my door was bound by a heavy-duty, airtight tape. In reality, it was only obstructed by a simple piece of paper. The neighborhood committee – somewhat like a homeowners’ association – that monitored my quarantine had glued this paper from the door’s left panel to the frame. If I had broken quarantine, the paper would have ripped, indicating my escape.
I have now been out of quarantine for almost 40 days – and life is far from normal. Even though the virus hit China around Christmas and rose exponentially until mid-February, life as we knew it is just seeing dawn three months later.
On my discharge day, before going anywhere I had to go to my apartment leasing office, where I showed the committee a chart of my daily temperature readings and a medical professional checked my temperature so I could get a certificate saying I was “free and clear” from Covid-19. This qualified me for a “green” scan phone code that I had to show before entering any grocery store or taking public transportation. That code would have turned red if I’d gone out of town or turned off my GPS. I still carry the code and show it in some places like malls, but the requirement has become more lax. Similarly, the security guards sitting at tables outside my apartment complex have become a little less rigorous about taking my temperature every time I come and go from my apartment complex.
My first excursion was walking down the street outside of my apartment complex. About half the stores were open. The others were bolted shut, with their windows displaying “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Year of the Rat,” many weeks after those holidays had passed. It was an image frozen in time, waiting to melt.
I was, however, excited to be able to go to the grocery store. During my quarantine I’d texted my grocery lists to the school’s office assistant and the neighborhood committee brought me the food every three days. Now at least I could get the brands I wanted. But I misjudged again: shelves were mostly empty, and I had no choice but to buy non-favorites like salted butter or sweetened yogurt…
Most of my friends were still in their home countries or doing their own quarantines here, so I couldn’t see them. They also could not visit me because my apartment complex only allowed residents inside the gates. Even though I had been released from the quarantine, I was still isolated.
Then I heard that our local Italian eatery, Mammamia, was delivering. I ordered a pizza, garlic bread and arugula salad. If I had to eat alone at home, I might as well treat myself, I thought. But when the delivery people tried to enter my gate, they could not get in and my dinner cooled as I grappled through a series of mistranslations before getting my food.
Obtaining bottled water was a challenge too. In normal times, I had a company deliver the bottles straight to my 6th floor unit. Now I had to get the heavy containers myself, risking a relapse of a shoulder injury I had just recovered from. I was beginning to feel that the only advantage to ending the quarantine was to be able to throw away my own garbage.
At my school, we are still teaching online. Some restaurants have reopened for full service after receiving clearances from the provincial government. Now, Mammamia thoroughly checks its suppliers, takes the temperature of the staff and requires them to wear masks and gloves during service hours. As a customer, I am asked to wear a mask when I’m not eating. Tables honor social distancing policies and are set up for small groups. Malls are open, but close at 8 p.m. rather than their usual 10 or 11 p.m. to give the crew time to clean and sanitize.
Just as I thought “normal” was beginning to see daylight, on March 28, China closed its borders to most foreigners to avert a resurgence of Covid-19 imported from returning residents.
As I rejoice about returning to campus in the next week or so, I mourn that the saga has shifted to America. I pray for my mother in Florida, a very social person, who must face isolation and, at age 82, falls within the high risk group. I grieve for the 3,800-plus families who must plan funerals as we speak and the 185,000 patients who are fighting for their lives. And what about my friends who work in health care? They are running out of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and find it hard to get new supplies.
First, we will have to make up for lost time at our jobs. Even though many of us are lucky enough to work online, we have had to improvise. My weekly class time with students has been sliced in half, and I’ve had to rush through several lessons to cover all the AP exam objectives. My experience is a microcosm of what’s going on in other industries. Recovery will take time.
Nevertheless, I also see opportunities. Now that we’ve learned that we can quickly cross over to online work, those with mobility challenges or parents who want a work-life balance may be able to avail themselves of the remote operational model. Telemedicine could streamline health care when normalcy returns. Hopefully companies will now realize the importance of providing all their employees with sick leave and health insurance.
Another important lesson we have learned from this pandemic is that no one is an island. This experience has honed our resiliency and acumen. The crisis proves that under trying circumstances, we still give our best. As many have said here in China, Jiayou (Jeye-yo), which in Chinese means, “let’s keep at it.”
Exactly. And people are right to be skeptical of expert models. Al Gore told me that my house would be underwater by now 
French forces have done 5.8 million checks in two weeks
From Ya Chun Wang and Fanny Bobille in Paris, CNN
Fifteen days into the confinement period, the French police and gendarmerie – the military police – have done 5.8 million checks to see if people have a valid reason for being out and about, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on French TV LCI Wednesday morning.
This comes a day after a 22-year-old was sentenced to 105 hours of community service in Paris by police for repeated failure to respect the confinement measures, says the Paris Prosecutor’s Office.
The man was released from prison last September. He was fined four times on March 24 alone, and again two days later, and each time found with invalid papers during police checks.
French officials say people can only walk and exercise around a one-kilometer radius from their home, for a maximum of one hour. They are also expected to handwrite a government-mandated permission slip.
This has been covered here before but health professionals certainly don’t need alcoholics going into detox and clogging up hospitals and taking needed supplies right now.
There have been news reports that hospitals can’t cope with the potential scenario of alcoholics going through forced detox/withdrawal, in addition to virus cases. It seems to have been a deliberate public health decision.
Liquor stores are open in our southern state with that as explanation. We have a stay at home order.
…
cross posted
You guys have it easy. I wanted buy some vodka to replace alcohol. It was closed. Around me, practically everything is closed.
At any rate, CA is managing quite well on its own quietly. So if CA sees it fit to open any store, I got no qualms. NY on the other hand is producing half of all the stats in the country, running out supplies and screams how the rest of the country has to help them. Still not closing enough is not excusable.
The first week of closures here in Illinois, starting around March 16, my brother — a double lung transplant recipient — insisted it was a government over-reaction & he declared he was not going to cancel his vacation to Miami in early April.
Spoke to him yesterday, and the vacation has indeed been cancelled (whew).
I offered to do his grocery shopping for him, and he said he is fine doing it himself (!!!).
My boss said some outrageous things the first week of the restaurant closure.
Clearly, it takes time for some — for the information to sink in.
Frankly, I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the next 3-6 months, then the next 12-18 months.
All of that to say, no, not so surprised people continued to travel mid-March.
Can’t you get vodka at your grocery store? Walgreens/CVS?
China announces 1,367 asymptomatic coronavirus cases under observation
China has officially recorded 1,367 asymptomatic infections of the novel coronavirus, the country’s National Health Commission said on Wednesday.
In total, 130 new asymptomatic cases were diagnosed on Tuesday, while 302 were released from quarantine.
Thirty-six new cases of the virus were recorded on Tuesday – all but one imported. That brings the total number of imported cases to 806, according to the NHC
China has recorded 81,554 cases nationwide, as of Tuesday. It is unclear if that figure includes asymptomatic cases.
A total of 76,238 patients have recovered and been released from hospital, according to the NHC.
Seven new deaths were reported on Tuesday, bringing the country’s death toll to 3,312. Six of the new fatalities were in Hubei, where the pandemic began.
[ Very short on details as to what this covers exactly. ]
Supermarket chain Kroger announces $2 “hero bonus” for staff members working during epidemic
CNN
The US Kroger supermarket chain announced today it would pay staff members who are still working during the coronavirus epidemic a $2 an hour “hero bonus.”
The extra pay will apply to all hours worked between March 29 to April 18 and will be distributed weekly to ensure staff members have extra cash.
It will apply to all front-line grocery, supply chain, manufacturing, pharmacy and call center staff.
“Our associates have displayed the true actions of a hero, working tirelessly on the front lines to ensure everyone has access to affordable, fresh food and essentials during this national emergency,” said Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO.
Kroger had previously announced it would be expanding sick leave for all employees who had been diagnosed and quarantined with Covid-19, and paying a one-time bonus to every front-line employee.
Full-time employees were to receive $300 while part-time associates would bank $150.
“It’s getting really scary for them right now,” says daughter of two Zaandam cruise passengers
From CNN’s Jennifer Henderson
The situation for passengers onboard the Zaandam cruise ship is becoming increasingly dire, after eight people on the vessel were confirmed to be infected with the novel coronavirus.
The cruise ship also has 193 people who are experiencing influenza-like symptoms, the president of Holland America cruise line Orlando Ashford said in an op-ed in the Sun Sentinel newspaper. Four guests have died onboard, although the cause of their deaths is still unknown.
Jennifer Allan, the daughter of Gloria and Bill Weed, two passengers aboard the Zaandam, told CNN both of her parents started to get a fever about nine to 10 days ago. Gloria and Bill are both in their seventies.
“Since the first person got sick, everyone has been quarantined in their cabins, and they are not allowed to leave. They have an inside cabin. They have only been able to leave it once about five days ago for 30 minutes, but other than that it’s basically been solitary confinement,” Allan said.
“People leave food outside their door so that nobody interacts with each other.”
Her father Bill’s condition has worsened, Allan said. “My dad has developed pneumonia. He’s getting worse. They need to get to land, they need to get medical attention sooner rather than later.”
Gloria tells her daughter that the nights have been difficult for Bill. “The nights have really, really been rough the past few nights, so he’s not functioning very well in the morning, towards the afternoon he starts to get a little bit better,” Allan says. “Generally speaking, but it’s really rough at night … It’s getting really scary for them right now."