Passengers on the quarantined cruise ship may be repatriated

[thewayne]

The State Dept has arranged for a convoy of buses and planes to bring them back to the United States, but their ordeal is far from over. I was unclear if they're flying out of a Japanese airport or US military base, I would suspect the latter. If they're flying US military transport, it won't exactly be a first-class flight, but at least they'll be a step closer to home and off that ship!

First, if they test to be positive for the virus, they're not leaving Japan. They'll stay there to be treated.

Second, when they arrive here, they're going straight to dedicated military bases for 14 day quarantines.

Third, if they choose NOT to go home in this mass exodus, the State Dept says they don't know when they'll get to come home!

So interesting stuff.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/us-to-evacuate-roughly-400-americans-on-quarantined-cruise-ship/

Comments

[armiphlage]

Canadians potentially exposed are flown back on chartered passenger aircraft. It's generally more fuel-efficient to do so than on a military transport.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/all-wuhan-evacuees-under-quarantine-at-canadian-military-base-healthy-no-virus-symptoms-1.4813605

[dewline]

Confirmed via CBC News:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-1.5465349

[thewayne]

I'm just thinking from a perspective of keeping the Japanese public happy to not see 400 people who were under quarantine being marched through their midst.

[rain_gryphon]

We'd have done better, I think, to have left them where they were. However, if they're to be repatriated, we're at least doing it carefully and sensibly.

[silveradept]

That sounds like a sensible plan, for once. Clearly it didn't involve anyone with a political appointment.

[thewayne]

I read that a certain congressman, possibly a senator, was trying to pressure the CDC to get a friend off the cruise ship who happened to be a doctor, a GP at that.  But a plan like this takes time to develop, and I'm sure they were working on this before the pressure started being applied.

[silveradept]

Yes. And we need to know the CDC will stand up to pressure when the zombie outbreak happens.