Coronavirus: tests carried out on a liner kept at a distance from San Francisco

US health officials conducted tests aboard a cruise ship held off the coast of California on Thursday to determine whether passengers and crew had contracted the new coronavirus.

Some people aboard the Grand Princess liner developed flu-like symptoms consistent with the coronavirus when a 71-year-old man died of the Covid-19 after traveling on the ship during a recent cruise to Mexico. Some 62 tourists remained on board to go to Hawaii after this cruise in Mexico and were still there on Thursday.

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The Grand Princess was originally scheduled to dock in San Francisco on Wednesday, but the authorities opposed it, and the liner made circles in the water on Thursday afternoon a hundred kilometers off the coast. The ship, returning from Hawaii, shortened its trip as some of the tourists (2,383 in total) and crew members (1,100) began to show signs of infection.

Carolyn Wright, one of the passengers contacted by AFP, said that the captain of the boat had announced Thursday evening that there was " no confirmed case of coronavirus " on board the ship and that the results of the tests would be released on Friday. " I always find it difficult to understand why the media make such a fuss, " wondered this 63-year-old professional photographer, living in the state of New Mexico. " There have been two cases (of coronavirus) on the previous cruise and they pretend that everyone on board has the plague, " she annoys.

On Thursday noon, passengers who had been traveling freely until then, unless they were present on this previous cruise, were instructed to stay in their cabins. " I think it's no longer useful. I'm not really worried. If you look at the statistics, the risk is rather low, "said Caroline Wright, who communicates with AFP by SMS. For the moment, passengers are not complaining " even if that could change in case we get stuck in our cabins for too long ". " The vast majority of people on the ship are over 60, up to 90, and most are used to cruising, " she said.

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Where and when to dock?

Health officials were unable to say when and where the Grand Princess would be able to dock on Thursday. According to Mary Ellen Carroll, crisis manager for the city of San Francisco, 35 people had flu-like symptoms during the cruise and some have already recovered. With Californian authorities and the Centers for Detection and Prevention of Disease (CDC), " we are working to determine if the Covid-19 is present on board the ship, " she explained at a press conference. .

In a statement Wednesday, the owner of the liner said that nearly a hundred people (passengers and crew) were " identified as to be tested ", without giving further details. The ship belongs to the company Princess Cruises, which also owns the Diamond Princess, which was quarantined in February in Japan and where more than 700 contaminations were finally identified, including six fatal.

It is thanks to a helicopter and rescuers of the California National Guard that screening kits were sent Thursday on the liner. The tests will then be sent to shore for analysis. According to Carolyn Wright, passengers were told the results would be released Friday morning.

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When the test results are known, the CDC and California authorities will be able to determine the best possible place to dock the Grand Princess, in San Francisco or elsewhere, said Carroll. " The place must ensure the safety of neighboring populations as well as that of passengers and crew, " she said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Wednesday after the passenger on board the passenger liner died near Sacramento and the first linked to the Covid-19 in California. Thursday, the balance sheet of the new coronavirus on the American soil was established with twelve deaths in total, including eleven in the State of Washington (northwest), for the majority of the elderly or in a fragile state of health.