Donald Trump has said the federal government will intervene to rescue passengers and crew from the coronavirus-stricken cruise ship Holland America Zandaam after Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis said he would only rescue the 49 Floridians on board.
‘They’re dying, so we have to do something,’ the president said in Wednesday’s White House press briefing.
Trump weighed in on the cruise ship saga, as the Zandaam and sister ship Rotterdam are fast approaching Florida and hoping to dock at Port Everglades later this week.
Four people have died on board the Zandaam and at least 190 more have symptoms of the killer virus which has claimed the lives of more than 42,000 worldwide.
Donald Trump said at Wednesday’s White Hosue briefing that the federal government will intervene to rescue passengers and crew from the coronavirus-stricken cruise ships headed for Florida
But Florida’s DeSantis said he would only save the 49 Floridians stranded on board the ships and planned to refuse permission for any of the other 2,000-plus passengers or crew to disembark.
Trump said it was understandable that states don’t want to take on the additional burden of a potential influx of COVID-19 patients but insisted that ‘from a humane standpoint’ the US has to help people ‘no matter where they’re from’.
‘It’s a tough situation, it’s a tough situation,’ he said. ‘You can understand there are people who are sick on those ships and states don’t wanna take them – they have enough problems right now they don’t want to take them.
‘But from a humane standpoint we don’t have a choice. We have to… people are dying. We’re going to do something.’
Trump said the government had been sending medical teams on board the ship to ‘care for the people’.
‘They’re dying, so we have to do something,’ the president said. The Zandaam (pictured) and sister ship Rotterdam are fast approaching Florida and hoping to dock at Port Everglades later this week
Four people have died on board the Zandaam and at least 190 more have symptoms of the killer virus which has claimed the lives of more than 42,000 worldwide
The US is also working with other countries to repatriate their citizens.
‘We have Canada notified – there’s a lot of Canadians, lots of British on the ship and they’re coming to take the people on the ship back to their homeland.
‘Canada is coming, the UK is coming and we have a lot of Americans,’ he said.
‘We’re taking the Canadians off and giving them to Canadian authorities so they can bring them back home, do the same thing with the UK.’
In a comment that seemed to be directed at DeSantis, Trump said the US would step in regardless of the nationality or residence of those on board.
‘We have to help the people. They’re in big trouble no matter where they’re from,’ he said.
‘They happen to be largely American but whether they were or not they’re dying so we have to do something – and the governor knows that too,’ he said of DeSantis.
Florida Gov DeSantis announced earlier Wednesday that the state would only rescue the 49 Florida residents on board the two liners and that all other passengers and crew members would be forced to remain at sea
Trump added he was ‘speaking with the governor about that a lot’.
He didn’t provide details about a plan but said ‘you’ll see what we’re doing’.
DeSantis announced earlier Wednesday that the state would rescue the 49 Florida residents on board the two liners but that all other passengers and crew members would be forced to remain at sea.
‘We are going to be willing to accept Floridians on board,’ he said.
‘My understanding is most of the passengers are foreign nationals.’
The governor previously said the state would offer no assistance to the ships until the cruise ship firm provided a plan of action for distributing the infected people to medical facilities.
Canadian passengers Chris and Anna Joiner ask for help onboard the Zaandam on March 27
‘My concern is that we have worked so hard to make sure we have adequate hospital space in the event of a Covid-19 surge, we wouldn’t want those valuable beds to be taken because of the cruise ship,’ said DeSantis.
He said Tuesday that the state’s healthcare system is stretched too thin to take on the Zaandam’s coronavirus caseload.
‘Just to drop people off at the place where we’re having the highest number of cases right now just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,’ DeSantis said.
Federal, state and local officials have been negotiating over whether the Zaandam and Rotterdam would be allowed to dock at Port Everglades later this week.
Two of four deaths on the Zaandam were blamed on COVID-19 and nine people have tested positive for the virus, the company said.
At least 190 more reported symptoms. More than 300 Americans are on Zaandam and Rotterdam.
The Zandaam set sail on a two-week voyage from Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 7 and was due to arrive in Chile on March 21. It is now off Valparaiso, Chile, and is hoping to dock at Port Everglades this week
Holland America said the Rotterdam took on nearly 1,400 people who appear to be healthy from its sister ship, leaving 450 guests and 602 crew members on the Zaandam.
The Zandaam set sail on a two-week voyage from Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 7 – 10 days before the company canceled all voyages over fears of an outbreak – and was due to arrive in Chile on March 21.
The ship had been granted permission to dock in Punta Arenas in Chile but when it arrived on March 14, permission was refused and passengers were prevented from leaving.
It stopped in Valparaiso, Chile, to take on more provisions and fuel but people were ordered to stay on board.
Carnival Cruises, the world’s largest cruise operator which also jointly owns the Zandaam and Rotterdam ships, has said more than 6,000 passengers are still stuck at sea on board its ships.
Including the 2,000-plus on board the Zandaam and Rotterdam, Carnival’s Costa Magica and Costa Favolosa are also stranded at sea near Miami amid negotiations with the US Coast Guard to evacuate passengers.
According to a company filing, crew members have also been forced to stay on board the ships amid fears that no one will be able to leave until the end of April.
In total, more than two dozen cruise ships are waiting at Port Miami and Port Everglades in Florida as well as nearby offshore, according to the Miami Herald.
The Coast Guard has directed all cruise ships to remain at sea and told operators to be prepared to send sick passengers to countries where the ships are registered.
States and nations have been turning away ships after cases of coronavirus were confirmed on board.
Cruise ships have become particular hotbeds for the virus, with a number of liners being doomed by fatal outbreaks.
In the worst cruise ship crisis so far, 706 people tested positive on the Diamond Princess after Japanese authorities imposed a two-week lockdown in Yokohama.
At least seven people have died after they were taken to hospital from the doomed vessel.
Passengers were confined to their cabins during the lockdown but several countries eventually lost patience with Japan and airlifted their citizens home.
Japan was widely criticised for its handling of the ship, with one disease expert saying the quarantine was ‘completely inadequate’ after viewing the conditions on board.
Japan had initially impounded the ship after a passenger who left the ship in Hong Kong in January subsequently tested positive.
Weeks later another Caribbean Princess ship was struck by an outbreak, when two passengers and 19 crew members on the Grand Princess cruise ship tested positive for coronavirus in early March.
The ship docked in Oakland, California, on March 9 with 3,500 on board and people were repatriated and sent to army bases for quarantine.
SCIENTISTS FIND TRACES OF CORONAVIRUS IN DIAMOND PRINCESS CABINS TWO WEEKS ON FROM PASSENGER EVACUATION
The coronavirus could last on surfaces for up to 17 days, according to research on the disease-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Traces of the deadly infection were found in the deserted cabins more than two weeks after passengers were evacuated.
The gigantic ship became a hotbed of COVID-19 cases in February, with more than 700 patients known to have caught the virus on the cruise.
The study, published by US health officials, suggests the virus is capable of sticking to surfaces for longer than previously thought.
Until now, evidence has shown the coronavirus can last on plastic surfaces for three days.
Researchers, led by Takuya Yamagishi at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan, looked at the rooms of infected passengers aboard the Diamond Princess, including both those who showed symptoms and those who didn’t.
The findings were published on March 23 in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The authors wrote: ‘SARS-CoV-2 RNA was identified on a variety of surfaces in cabins of both symptomatic and asymptomatic infected passengers up to 17 days after cabins were vacated on the Diamond Princess but before disinfection procedures had been conducted.
‘Although these data cannot be used to determine whether transmission occurred from contaminated surfaces, further study of fomite transmission of SARS-CoV-2 aboard cruise ships is warranted.’
There isn’t any evidence so far that old traces of the virus can lead to new cases of COVID-19.
But health officials have warned repeatedly that people can catch the illness by touching a contaminated surface and then touching their face.
Traces of the deadly virus were found in the cabins more than two weeks after passengers were evacuated and before a deep clean. Pictured, a general picture of a cabin on the ship