One Dead After Coronavirus Outbreak Aboard Grand Princess Cruise Ship

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on April 17, 2020

Passengers and crew traveling with Carnival Corporation’s Grand Princess are still reeling from the announcement of a COVID-19 outbreak aboard the luxury liner, especially since most of them, including the ship’s officials, had no knowledge of the issue until hearing about it from a live press conference held by Vice President Mike Pence fed through the ship’s onboard television network. Since then, one passenger has died and twenty-one more have tested positive.

Back in early March, with nearly 2,500 passengers and crew members aboard the Grand Princess, this “city on the sea” set sail for the great state of Hawaii – the vacation of a lifetime for many. Unfortunately, due to the worldwide novel coronavirus pandemic, the vessel was ordered to return to its port-of-call in San Francisco. According to vacationers, a note was slipped under the door of their cabins from the cruise ship’s Chief Medical Officer Grant Tarling, which stated that “the U.S. Centers for Disease Control had begun ‘investigating a small cluster’ of COVID-19 cases in California that might have been linked to the ship.”

Passengers, however, were kept in the dark about the gravity of the situation, and definitely were not informed of the scale of the outbreak aboard the Grand Princess itself. Hand sanitizing stations popped up in common areas of the cruise ship, and crew members were now wearing latex gloves, but other than that it was business as usual. In fact, festivities & social gatherings aboard the ship continued to occur. One event in particular, a lecture on Clint Eastwood movies, brought more than 200 people together in a small, Broadway-style theater. “I’m surprised they’re even letting this event happen. This is a big crowd,” one passenger said.

The captain of the ship eventually ordered a mandatory quarantine on March 5th, 2020, as the ship was steaming its way back to the Bay Area. Originally, there was an incredible amount of backlash from the local community and from President Trump himself, stating that by allowing the coronavirus-infected cruise ship to dock, it could potentially spread the disease even further. After days of being shunned and pushed away, the Celebrity Princess was finally granted permission to dock in Oakland.

Sources:

• Carnival Executives Knew They Had a Virus Problem, But Kept the Party Going
• Cruise Ship, Floating Symbol of America’s Fear of Coronavirus, Docks in Oakland

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.