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Yesterday more than 300 Americans who had been passengers aboard the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess in Yokohama, Japan, were allowed to board a chartered jet to return to the United States.
Yesterday it was announced that No symptomatic or infected passengers will be allowed to board, and so more than 40 Americans were required to stay and receive medical care in Japan.Apparently at the last minute, authorities were informed that 14 of the passengers cleared to return to United States by plane - while still asymptomatic - had tested positive for the virus. The decision was made to separate these passengers from the rest, but still allow them to return.
The following joint statement was issued by HHS and U.S. State Department overnight, describing how they separated the asymptomatic cass from the rest. I'll have a brief postscript when you return.
Joint Statement by U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services On Repatriation of American Passengers from the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship
FEBRUARY 17, 2020
On February 16, the U.S. State Department facilitated the voluntary repatriation of over 300 U.S. citizens and their immediate family members who had been passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Passengers were evaluated by medical personnel from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and all were deemed asymptomatic and fit to fly before being processed for evacuation.
During the evacuation process, after passengers had disembarked the ship and initiated transport to the airport, U.S. officials received notice that 14 passengers, who had been tested 2-3 days earlier, had tested positive for COVID-19. These individuals were moved in the most expeditious and safe manner to a specialized containment area on the evacuation aircraft to isolate them in accordance with standard protocols.
After consultation with HHS officials, including experts from the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, the State Department made the decision to allow the 14 individuals, who were in isolation, separated from other passengers, and continued to be asymptomatic, to remain on the aircraft to complete the evacuation process. During the flights, these individuals will continue to be isolated from the other passengers. These flights departed Japan at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern time on February 16 and will arrive in the United States later this morning. All passengers are being closely monitored by medical professionals throughout the flight, and any who become symptomatic will be moved to the specialized containment area, where they will be treated.
Upon landing in the United States, passengers will deplane at either Travis AFB or Joint Base San Antonio and will remain under quarantine for 14 days. Passengers that develop symptoms in flight and those with positive test results will remain isolated on the flights and will be transported to an appropriate location for continued isolation and care.
Every precaution to ensure proper isolation and community protection measures are being taken, driven by the most up-to-date risk assessments by U.S. health authorities. We continue all possible efforts to protect the welfare of U.S. citizens. We encourage U.S. citizens considering international travel to continue to review State Department Travel Advisories at Travel.State.gov, and to closely monitor and follow the guidance of the CDC and local health authorities.While the intent was to not bring back infected evacuees, in practical terms, any of the other 300 healthy looking, (albeit, untested) passengers could also be silently incubating the virus.
Only 1/3rd of the passengers and crew aboard the Diamond Princess have been tested, yet roughly 1/3rd of those have tested positive for COVID, and of those 30% have been symptomatic.We've already seen evacuees from Wuhan who appeared healthy go on to develop the disease - while still in quarantine - after they returned. We've even seen people who initially tested negative go on to develop the illness.
No screening process is perfect.And in a fast moving crisis, when on-the-spot decisions must be made, we can't let `perfect' get in the way of the `good'.
