VP Pence: 21 people on Grand Princess cruise ship positive for coronavirus
SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - Vice President Mike Pence announced on Friday that 21 people on board the Grand Princess cruise ship have tested positive for the coronavirus.
On Thursday 46 passengers and crew on the ship were swabbed and those samples were flown to a laboratory in Richmond. The results came back Friday afternoon confirming that 21 people on the Grand Princess have the virus.
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Pence said among those tested, 24 people tested negative and one test was inconclusive.
Of the 21 positive cases, 19 of them are crew members and the two others are passengers.
The doctor on the Grand Princess is informing the guests and crew of their individual results, the cruise line said. All the affected guests and crew will remain isolated in their rooms.
The 951-foot ship is currently located about 100 miles off the San Francisco Bay and will be brought to shore this weekend into a non-commercial port.
Those infected passengers will be quarantined, but it's not yet known where they will be housed.
Related: 3,500 passengers, crew on Grand Princess awaiting coronavirus results
The vessel embarked on its second trip from San Francisco to Hawaii on Feb. 21 with 3,533 passengers aboard. The Grand Princess cruise ship was supposed to make a stop in Mexico on Thursday, but the call was canceled after reports of a cluster of coronavirus cases in Northern California tied to the ship.
Guests were treated to room service and were told to remain in their staterooms as they waited for the test results that later determined the coronavirus was circulating among them.
On Thursday, in dramatic fashion, a military helicopter crew lowered the kits onto the 951-foot Grand Princess by rope.
Joyce Li took some of that helicopter video and shared it with KTVU.
In an email from the ship on Friday, Li said that both she and her husband are doing well, but confined in their stateroom.
Related: Coronavirus outbreak cuts short cruise after passenger dies
"Meals are delivered to us with water, tea, and coffee," she said. "We get announcements on information to get whatever services we may need. "
She also said there are "plenty of movies and news to watch." The crew was even bringing by activity kits later in the afternoon.
Other than the restriction of being confined, Li said "we are comfortable. Hope to be able to be free again and not get sick from the ship. "
Michele Smith, a Grand Princess passenger, posted video on Facebook of the helicopter that arrived at the ship. Another video showed a crew member wearing gloves and a mask and spraying and wiping a handrail.
“We have crews constantly cleaning our ship,” Smith was heard saying.
In a post, Smith said she and her husband were not quarantined and were told that only the people who had been on the Mexico voyage or those showing flu-like symptoms had to isolate themselves.
“Spirits are as high as can be under these circumstances. We are blessed to be healthy, comfortable and well-fed,” she wrote.
Authorities undertook the testing on the cruise after a 71-year-old man from Placer County, who was on a previous voyage of the ship to Mexico, died Wednesday of the coronavirus and at least four others became infected. That man was the first coronavirus-related death in California.
The California Department of Public Health said there are now 69 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, but it's unclear if that figure reflects the new cases on the Grand Princess cruise ship and the additional four cases in Santa Clara County.