American comedian broke quarantine while he was stuck on the Westerdam coronavirus cruise ship in Cambodia and got a flight home
- Frank King left the Phnomh Penh hotel where passengers were staying
- An 83-year-old American passenger tested positive for coronavirus
- King said a security officer told him not to leave as he went out the back door
- He says that he has had no symptoms and he needed to get back for a gig
- The comedian has been fired as a performer on Holland America cruises
- He took a three-leg flight to get back to Eugene in Oregon
- The deadly contagion has spread in two months to more than 71,000 people globally and killed more than 1,770, with the vast majority of the cases in China
A stand-up comedian who was quarantined in Cambodia after traveling on a cruise ship where a passenger tested positive for coronavirus has broken quarantine and defied security guards to return to the United States, reportedly without waiting for his test results.
Frank King, from Oregon, who had been stranded on MS Westerdam after a coronavirus scare on board the ship, chose to evade security at the hotel he was staying and return home for paid speaking engagements he had lined up.
King, who has worked as a performer for Holland America for ten years, has been sacked by the cruise operator, Fox 12 reported, and forced to cancel the first of the three speaking gigs on suicide prevention that he had planned amid media attention over his decision to flee quarantine.
Frank King, from Oregon, chose to evade security at the hotel he was staying and return home for paid gigs
He has been sacked as a performer by Holland America, who he had worked for for a decade
The cruise ship was allowed to dock in Cambodia after it was stranded when it was refused entry from five different countries after the coronavirus gripped Asia.
The liner set off from Hong Kong on February 1st before denied entry in Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Guam and Thailand before finally being allowed to dock in Cambodia with 1,455 passengers and 802 crew on board.
Many guests were then quarantined at a five-star hotel in Pnom Penh where they were awaiting travel home after an 83-year-old American woman who had been on the cruise tested positive for coronavirus.
King fled the hotel before finding out the results to his swab test, according to Komo News. He now insists that he tested negative, Fox 12 reported.
King was reported to have fled the hotel before finding out the results to his swab test – but now insists that he tested negative
he cruise ship was allowed to dock in Cambodia after it was stranded when it was refused entry from five different countries
It comes as the deadly contagion has spread to more than 71,000 people globally and killed more than 1,770, with the vast majority of the cases in China, where the outbreak began two months ago.
King arrived in Eugene after a three-leg flight, saying that the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had cleared him to return.
King, who insists that he has no symptoms, defied security when he snuck out of the hotel he was staying in. He said a security officer told him not to leave as he went out the back door, but he left regardless.
‘I knew full well that if there was an issue, the CDC would have put me into quarantine or had me self-quarantine at the very least,’ King said.
The Westerdam began its cruise in Singapore last month and its last stop before it was refused further landings was in Hong Kong
‘And, if the CDC doesn’t know the parameters of the disease, the incubation period, the non-symptomatic carriers, then who does?’
He said that a CDC worker met him when he got off the plane and he was cleared to come home. He also said that he had visited his doctor at the Linn County Health Department.
Holland America said: ‘Results are being returned when completed, with the first batch of 406 all being negative. Cleared guests may travel home, and arrangements are being made for those guests.’