LizNeedsAVacation

And the Philippines has successfully taken a large portion of the crew “home”. A total of 451 people from the Philippines (which has to be almost entirely crew as then had only a few guests) left the Diamond Princess. 
If I am reading it correctly that includes 10 that previously were positive but have recovered and tested negative. (Previous report said they had to test negative several times to be released).

This appears, IMO, to be very good news. https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/2/25/Filipinos-repatriation-coronavirus-cruise-ship-Japan.html

15 minutes ago, Coral said:

Not on the Diamond Princess, but the first patient in the US to be diagnosed was in Washington State and he fully recovered and was released.

The article I posted said 2 crew from the Philippines have recovered and been released and 5 more are expected to be released soon. That was an article specifically about the Filipino crew and guests so there are likely more.

what I don’t know is if anyone has gone from serious or critical to recovered. 

For people that have been wondering about the crew... looks like the Philippines is back to saying tomorrow will be the day for them to run their flight. They don’t say the number of people but it seems to be several hundred people (“over 400 expressed interest”) and almost all (if not all) of that will be crew.

They’ll still have a quarantine at “home” but hopefully it will be more comfortable. (I say “home” because I assume it will be similar to other countries so not their own homes).

And of the 59 positive cases from the Filipino guest crew (I think they only had 8 guest), 2 have already recovered and been released from the hospital and 5 more are expected to be released soon. (47 were just in the recent batch of positives). So hopefully the crew cases will be mild. https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/2/24/Diamond-Princess-number-of-Filipinos-positive-for-coronavirus-rises.html

Obviously that is not all the crew, but hopefully other countries will follow soon or at least with the number of crew quarantining onboard reduced the remainder will have a better experience.

1 hour ago, kathy49 said:

I just don't understand why they could not have waited for this operation until all the pending tests were completed. It sounds like it was a matter of a short time.

I posted a link above but you can find it in many places (including CDC press conferences). When the evacuations from Wuhan took place they did not require tests. The CDC responded to questions to explain that the number of false negatives (due to testing too early, etc) was high and they felt it was not sensible to hold off on evacuations waiting for a test that wouldn’t really prove negativity. They felt it was better just to get people “home”. 

It would seem the logic in this case was the same “don’t wait around for a test we don’t feel is all that reliable. Just get them home”.

once the decision to evacuate and the logistics of getting the flights were settled it was likely deemed best to get people before the situation changed.

The Philippines was set to get all their crew that wanted to evacuate yesterday. And now it’s been delayed “awaiting Japan to clear them for departure”. 
 The people with tests in progress for the US getting the positive result after they were presumably in US custody but before the plane boarded threw a kink into the plan but I think it was a decision to get people to the US before anything changed to prevent it. There are still politics within the US to deal with but all the people that made it to the US no longer have any risk of a foreign govt’s policy intervening. The same cannot be said for anyone still in Japan. 

I’m curious if cabin mates of someone that tested negative were allowed to go to their home countries to quarantine and if what we are seeing in the positives we’re cabin mates of someone that tested positive on the ship.

I’ve been watching an Australian family on twitter. They were in an inside cabin (mom, dad, teen son and pre-teen daughter). They were set to go to Australia when their daughter (but no one else in the cabin) tested positive. 
 

They appear to be quarantined in hospital but their daughter is in isolation on a different floor. That has to be terrifying for them all. I know my preteen would fake bravery but be terrified to be all alone. And language barriers seem to be adding on to the situation.

Hopefully she tests negative soon and can reunite with them.

1 hour ago, dog said:

Thank you for your reply.

Re:

1. I understand that. They should be allowed on the flight because they tested positive before disembarking.

2. How can they be "considered clear" without a confirmed negative test result?

This is about evacuees from Wuhan, not the Diamond Princess but it has some quotes from the CDC on why it won’t test or require negative tests from evacuees. In short they say negative tests are unreliable. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/us/coronavirus-quarantine-tests.amp.html

Looking at the letters from the embassy and the CDC press releases, I don’t think they requiring a negative test even from those that stayed. It says they can’t come back for at least 14 days after they leave the ship and can’t have tested positive. I assume they do require a negative test if and only if you previously tested positive.

4 minutes ago, dog said:

If they did NOT have test results how can they be on the approved list?

As I understood it the US didn’t wait for results because they didn’t have a reliable ETA on them.

1 hour ago, GottaLuvCruising said:

My cousin was a lecturer on the Diamond Princess.  She was on one of the evacuation flights and is now quarantined at Travis AFB.  She has tested negative (so far...thankfully.)  Her luggage went to a base in Texas, but the Red Cross got essentials for her.  She speaks very highly of Princess and the crew throughout this experience.  

I hope everyone gets home well and safely.  

Was she in a guest cabin or is she officially crew? I’m just curious. And I’m wondering if that is a sign that at least some countries brought how crew members.

Its sounds like the Philippines is planning to bring their crew members home for quarantine there. https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/2/20/Filipinos-cruise-ship-repatriation.html
I different article I read said something about them looking to move quicker as the Japanese want the ship shutdown but I haven't seen that anywhere yet. Will be interesting to see whether there is truth to that. But if the Philippines follows through that is a large portion of the crew who will not be forced to quarantine in the cabins that were just used for weeks by quarantined passengers.

57 minutes ago, glam mistress said:

Here is some tragic news - two DP passengers have died. 

 

 

The news I’m pretty sure we can all agree we never wanted to hear. 😞

16 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

How do you know?

check out yardley_wong on Twitter and you can read it yourself.

The caption on this one is “#freedom #day1 walking down the street to feel the depth of space. Such a nice neighbourhood. Keep on to absorb #postquarantine #covid19 #diamondprincess”

This does show the absolute polar opposites between the ways some governments are approaching this. She is from HK which is enforcing quarantine. But in the time between isolation on the ship and actually being flown back to HK from the 14 day quarantine they have no restrictions (per her responses to people asking).

14 minutes ago, fragilek said:

There are now photos of the first lot of people to leave the ship walking about in the city.  I beleive this person is from HK not sure why not going straight back.  But have said Princess has put them in hotels unyil they can go home.  They will face 14 quarantine once in HK

https://twitter.com/yardley_wong/status/1230137710628626432/photo/1

They were released before the charter flight. Not sure why at that point Japan didn’t say you have to wait for the flight if you are taking it, but I think once they were told to disembark they had to disembark.

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Many of the passengers on this cruise are from Japan. So I suspect many of those disembarking after negative testing are returning to their homes in Japan. Dropping them off at a train station allows them to find transportation home.

 

Effectively they have been in quarantine in their home country and are leaving the ship after negative testing at the end of the two week quarantine.

 

The US citizens who flew back to the USA two days ago were definitely exposed to positive carriers on the buses to the airport and then on the planes. They definitely need to be quarantined in the USA.

Yardley had responded to a comment that the HK passengers were being taken to a hotel until the plane but she didn’t elaborate. She was very nervous about the protests in HK. I can’t imagine finally getting off, accepting that you need more quarantine and then seeing videos of violent (from what I see) protests outside the place you are going to be housed.

18 minutes ago, fragilek said:

https://twitter.com/qtiepie

 

They had there luggage ready to put out and were set to transfer when daughter came back +ve so sad for them. Strange it seems they were still willing to let some of the family leave if they had wanted

I assume at this point some countries just really want to get their citizens back and if they are going into quarantine and are currently negative they don’t want to leave them behind.

5 minutes ago, BSocial said:

But what’s to stop any of the remaining Americans on the ship, from flying to Australia, for example, to wait out the US 14 day ban?  
 

 Australia can flag their own passports from entry - but they won’t have the details of the American passports, right?  This seems like a flaw

 

 Same example for US ban.  They are not banning the UK or Australia passengers on board, for 14 days after release, correct.?

I don’t know if countries share restricted traveler info with others. One could hope.

Also not sure that various governments have full manifests of cruise passengers that are not their own citizens.

Nothing to do but wait and see I think. 

13 minutes ago, ed01106 said:

pleasantly surprised by the under 10 group.  Not at all surprised that old folks who offen have other health issues are affected worse, but under 9 are usually much worse off than 10-59.  

I read this article a few days ago. Of course, we only know what we know...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/health/coronavirus-children.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

1 hour ago, DivotMaker said:

 

 

 

This shouldn’t be new information to anyone but rather a confirmation from the US that their names have specifically been added to the restricted travel list from the DHS.

I can’t imagine the fear of those that were attempting to take the plane, with a threat of being unable to return for an open dated period of time, and an uncertainty of “did my results come back” and “is that just a tickle in my throat”. It’s not like deciding to I go to work today. I just can’t villainize someone that wasn’t 100% transparent about anytime they coughed unless they outright lied (ie had a fever and said no, were specifically told they were positive and lied, etc.) It’s not as if the US offered a contingency if you admitted having symptoms and then just turned out to have a cold. It was basically “if you’re not on the plane, you’re on your own”.

5 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

I said this to my DH that someone should spend their time writing a book about their ordeal ... help to pass that time while they were in quarantine.  Guess someone else already thought about doing just that. 

I predicted she would as she already is an author.

28 minutes ago, gphb said:

 

I really don't know but I think the doctor in the video was suggesting that there should be some zones even just for the quarantine staff to consider a green zone where they don't do all the practices he describes of using cell phones, eating with their gloves still on, etc. and with presumably some sheeting to and from.   I did see pictures of where they had taken over the MDR for prescription medication sorting and so there are at least some public areas of the ship that perhaps could be better controlled.   Or tents on some of the open decks that are roped off?    Again, I have no idea and don't wish to "manage in hindsight" but it seems such consideration could have been in Princess leadership or UK government (the flag bearer) to question too?

At bare minimum I heard it as “no one seemed Interested in discussing how to set up red and green zones”. At least that is what I took from it.

He seemed so genuinely heartbroken that he couldn’t help and scared of what it means for the future.

6 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

That is a very enlightening, and scary, video.

Heartbreaking.

Makes you wonder what others involved want to say and don’t out of fear.  (Worldwide)

Has anyone heard of countries that are making plans (or already did) to take home cruise passengers/guests are also fighting to bring home any crew from their country?

I realize that crew is predominantly from Countries that we have not heard much about but yesterday I saw a brief one liner saying South Korea is making plans for their “passengers” and then the counts given show they have almost as many crew as cruisers. (Small number in total). Made me wonder if countries are equally advocating for the crew members. I’ve heard nothing about countries that seem to have only crew. Is that because the news is somewhat biased or because they’ve been forgotten?

34 minutes ago, kathy49 said:

As I said “the quarantine failed these passengers” and I would add the crew too...!

I’d argue it failed it’s primary purpose as well. We are on the end of the quarantine and infected patients are already making their way to other countries. Yes, the US for example has put those people into their own quarantine to redo the attempt to prevent it spreading to the population at large. But in the meantime a bunch of people are about to disembark a ship in which new cases are still being added everyday. I find it a bit unbelievably at this point to think there hasn’t been recent exposure and spread. The governments of the world are very much acting (and hinting at) their failure to believe it as well. 
14 days ago if everyone just walked off the ship, how many would have been carriers? How many are now? We will never know for sure but it is quiet possible this quarantine that was meant to keep the virus from spreading off ship has multiplied such that now MORE carriers are about to get off than 14 days ago. 

6 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

I would imagine Japanese will leave the ship as soon as allowed. At this point, seeing how the virus is spreading, I would leave. 

I would imagine so as well. 
 

im fairly certain I’d have left too. But I don’t think those that chose not to were necessarily wrong. They had some very valid arguments for staying. My biggest reason for wanting to take my home country up on the offer for evacuation would have been that at least once I am back in the US I am only subject to the US govt changing their minds regarding quarantine length and I’m guaranteed a place where I speak the language fluently. Those that stayed on the ship are now risk of Japanese govt changing the terms of quarantine as well as their own government and the government of any place they need to pass through to get home.

(This concern won’t apply to people that live in Japan though).

I am curious how many US citizens stayed back. I have seen reports with a count of total US citizens that were on the ship, counts of US citizens in the hospital in Japan and counts of passengers on the 2 planes. But since the passengers are not all US citizens (immediate family of a citizen were allowed to evacuate from what I read), I still don’t know how many stayed back.

4 hours ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

Is this a legitimate concern? I thought these people would be isolated, and not coming into any contact with the local populace, no?

I’m waffling on whether it is a valid concern but it depends a bit on how sure we really are about the 14 day period and details on how they are transported for medical care. My parents certainly fall into the high risk category and being retired military living in SA I am pretty sure the constant appts for my dad’s heart are in Wilford Hall on Lackland.

And my mom will be flying through the SA airport along with people released from quarantine. 
So it’s a concern on the back of my mind... valid? Maybe. Maybe not. But a concerning thought nonetheless. 

2 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I think it may be targetted more at getting the Japanese passengers off the ship, based on the comment about the meals that would be provided at the quarantine housing facility:

 

"The meals provided will be Japanese bento-style boxes. No Western meals will be available"

 

I could happily handle Japanese food for lunch and dinner but not for breakfast! And, yes, I have tried it!

 

Not that it really matters though. Reducing the number of people in quarantine on the ship itself will reduce the pressure on the crew. It's a good move, I think.

I just assume that meals are what the Japanese government are able to provide which is to say what is typical fare there.

Someone said that they should use the school cafeterias. I have no idea what is typical in a Japanese school cafeteria but from my school days in Hawaii which has a lot of Japanese influence, I’d predict bento style meals are typical for large group settings like this.