By Laura King, Andrew J. Campa, Karen Kaplan and Alex Wigglesworth
Los Angeles Times
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams says that we are shifting from a containment to a mitigation phase. This means we will see more cases and have to start thinking about whether to close schools and offices.
Los Angeles Times
As a cruise ship with nearly 3,000 stranded travelers prepares to dock Monday in the Port of Oakland, top health officials warned that the country has entered a new stage in dealing with the deadly coronavirus, one in which containment is no longer possible.
“We’re past the point of containment,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration during the first two years of President Trump’s administration, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“We have to implement broad mitigation strategies. The next two weeks are really going to change the complexion in this country. We’ll get through this, but it’s going to be a hard period. We’re looking at two months, probably, of difficulty,” Gottlieb said.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said that shifting to a mitigation phase means that communities will see more cases and need to start thinking about whether it makes sense to cancel large gatherings, close schools and make it more feasible for employees to work from home.
“And that’s going to be different in Seattle than what it’s going to be in Jackson, Miss.,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But communities need to have that conversation and prepare for more cases so we can prevent more deaths.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that people who are older or have underlying health conditions should also consider avoiding large crowds and travel.
“If you are an elderly person with an underlying condition, if you get infected, the risk of getting into trouble is considerable,” Fauci said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“So it’s our responsibility to protect the vulnerable. When I say protect, I mean right now. Not wait until things get worse. Say no large crowds, no long trips. And above all, don’t get on a cruise ship.”
The comments from current and former officials marked a big shift, acknowledging that the country is past the point of being able to contain the outbreak and needs to pivot to aggressive efforts to mitigate the virus’ spread.
Trump administration officials have previously sought to downplay the risk to Americans posed by the coronavirus outbreak.
In California, officials said the Grand Princess cruise ship would dock Monday at the Port of Oakland and outlined plans for the nearly 3,000 people aboard the ship, 1,000 of whom are from California. They stressed that no one on board would be released immediately to the general public.
Here is the state’s plan:
-Passengers who require acute medical treatment and hospitalization will be transported to health care facilities in California.
-If passengers do not require acute medical care following health screenings, those who are California residents will go to a federally run facility in California for testing and isolation, while non-Californians will be transported by the federal government to facilities in other states.
-The crew will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship, but importantly, the ship will stay in the Port of Oakland only for the duration of disembarking. This ship will depart Oakland, Calif., as soon as possible and will remain elsewhere for the duration of the crew’s quarantine.
“The City of Oakland, Alameda County and the Port of Oakland are stepping up in a major way, and their residents deserve universal praise. They are showing the world what makes our state great, coming to the rescue of thousands of people trapped aboard this ship and helping tackle a national emergency,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement.
The Port of Oakland was chosen because it is one of a limited number of docks that can accommodate a ship the size of the Grand Princess, and because it was the easiest “to seal off, securely move passengers toward their isolation destinations and protect the safety of the public,” the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said in a statement.
At least 21 people onboard the ship have confirmed cases of COVID-19, which is caused by the coronavirus that originated late last year in China.
Princess Cruises initially stated that the docking would begin Sunday, then pushed it back to Monday after “further review by the state and federal authorities.”
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said some of the ship’s passengers will be sent to Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio.
“I believe the folks with symptoms are mostly staying in California,” Castro tweeted. “Check me on that but that’s my best understanding.”
The passengers on board departed for Hawaii on Feb. 21. The ship was supposed to proceed to Ensenada, Mexico, but the onboard coronavirus outbreak prompted the vessel to sail to San Francisco instead. It reached the California coast Thursday, but was not able to dock.
In addition to the 21 people who have already tested positive for the virus, an unknown number of others are sick and awaiting tests.
Before the Hawaii excursion, the Grand Princess took an ill-fated cruise to Mexico. One of the passengers, a 75-year-old man from Placer County, Calif., fell ill during the trip and became the first Californian to die of COVID-19. Altogether, a dozen coronavirus cases in California have been linked to passengers on that cruise.
Passengers on the ship are eager to disembark but remain frustrated by the many unknowns that remain.
Debra Gooch Healer, a passenger from Napa, Calif., said all she knew is that she would be taken to a federal facility in California. She did not know where that will be or how long she will have to stay there.
“Any ACLU attorney out there who can tell us our rights??” she tweeted.
She and others also complained that they were forced to remain in their rooms, and that food supplies had run low.
Another woman who said her parents are stuck on the ship tweeted at Newsom and Vice President Mike Pence to send the passengers more food.
“I can handle my family in quarantine,” she wrote. “I cannot handle them being denied basic necessities.”
At least 437 coronavirus cases have been confirmed across the U.S., including about 90 in California. Worldwide, more than 107,000 people have been infected and more than 3,600 have died.
Most recently, Riverside County, Calif., announced its first “locally acquired” case of the virus, a person who is being treated at Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Riverside University Health System-Public Health said in a statement. Public health officials are still investigating how the person caught the virus, and are working to contact other people who may have been exposed.
Another Riverside County resident who was evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship off Japan and then quarantined at Travis Air Force Base previously tested positive for the virus. That person is continuing to recover in a Northern California hospital and has not returned to Riverside County since leaving the cruise ship, the statement said.
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Times staff writer David Lauter, in Washington, contributed to this report.
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Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
