A cruise ship hit by the new coronavirus is headed to the port of Oakland, California, the captain told passengers, though they were destined to stay aboard the ship for at least another day.
Grand Princess Capt. John Smith, in a recording provided by passenger Laurie Miller of San Jose, told guests the ship will dock in Oakland. Princess Cruises says it’s expected to arrive on Monday. The ship is carrying more than 3,500 people from 54 countries.
“An agreement has been reached to bring our ship into the port of Oakland,” he told passengers Saturday night. “After docking, we will then begin a disembarkation process specified by federal authorities that will take several days.”
Smith said passengers who need medical treatment or hospitalization will go to health care facilities in California, while state residents who don’t require acute medical care “will go to a federally operated isolation facility within California for testing and isolation.”
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U.S. guests from other states will be transported by the federal government to facilities in other states. Crew members will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship.
In a statement emailed to Global News on Saturday, Global Affairs Canada said they were “in contact with the cruise line and local authorities” and are “monitoring the situation closely.”
Global Affairs Canada said they did not have confirmation of the nationalities of those who had tested positive for the virus.
2:57 Coronavirus outbreak: B.C. officials confirm 6 new cases of COVID-19 in province
Coronavirus outbreak: B.C. officials confirm 6 new cases of COVID-19 in province
Smith said the information he was given did not include any details about what would happen to passengers from other countries.
“We are working to obtain more details overnight. … I’m sorry I can’t provide you more details right now,” he said.
The Grand Princess had been forbidden to dock in San Francisco amid evidence that the vessel was the breeding ground for a cluster of nearly 20 cases that resulted in at least one death after a previous voyage.
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COVID-19: Pence says everyone on Grand Princess cruise to be tested after 21 confirmed to have virus
In light of the situation aboard the Grand Princess and other cruise ships recently plagued by COVID-19 outbreaks, Canadian health officials are now advising people to avoid cruise ship travel.
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Meanwhile, the U.S. death toll from the virus climbed to 19, with all but three victims in Washington state. The number of infections swelled to more than 400, scattered across the U.S., as passengers aboard the ship holed up in their rooms.
Steven Smith and his wife, Michele, of Paradise, California, went on the cruise to celebrate their wedding anniversary. The Smiths said they were a bit worried but felt safe in their room, which they had left just once since Thursday to video chat with their children.
Crew members wearing masks and gloves delivered trays with their food in covered plates, delivered outside their door. They’ve occupied themselves by watching TV, reading and looking out the window.
“Thank God, we have a window!” Steven Smith said.
The ship was heading from Hawaii to San Francisco when it was held off the California coast Wednesday so people with symptoms could be tested for the virus. Cruise officials on Saturday disclosed more information about how they think the outbreak occurred.
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Former Kingston politician John Gerretsen and wife stuck on cruise ship after passengers test positive for COVID-19 : Video
Grant Tarling, chief medical officer for Carnival Corporation, said it’s believed a 71-year-old Northern California man who later died of the virus was probably sick when he boarded the ship for a Feb. 11 cruise to Mexico.
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The passenger visited the medical center the day before disembarking with symptoms of respiratory illness, he said. Others in several states and Canada who were on that voyage also have tested positive.
The passenger likely infected his dining room server, who also tested positive for the virus, Tarling said, as did two people travelling with the man. Two passengers now on the ship who have the virus were not on the previous cruise, he said.
Some passengers who had been on the Mexico trip stayed aboard for the current voyage — increasing crew members’ exposure to the virus.
Another Princess ship, the Diamond Princess, was quarantined for two weeks in Yokohama, Japan, last month because of the virus. Ultimately, about 700 of the 3,700 people aboard became infected in what experts pronounced a public-health failure, with the vessel essentially becoming a floating germ factory.
Hundreds of Americans aboard that ship were flown to military bases in California and other states for two-week quarantines. Some later were hospitalized with symptoms.
An epidemiologist who studies the spread of virus particles said the recirculated air from a cruise ship’s ventilation system, plus the close quarters and communal settings, make passengers and crew vulnerable to infectious diseases.
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“They’re not designed as quarantine facilities, to put it mildly,” said Don Milton of the University of Maryland.
Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 100,000 people and killed more than 3,400, the vast majority of them in China. Most cases have been mild, and more than half of those infected have recovered.
– With files from Global News and The Canadian Press
WINNIPEG – A backbencher with Manitoba’s NDP government has been removed from caucus over his link to convicted sex offender Peter Nygard.
Caucus chair Mike Moyes says it learned early Monday that a business partner of Mark Wasyliw is acting as Nygard’s criminal defence lawyer.
Moyes says Wasyliw was notified of the decision.
“Wasyliw’s failure to demonstrate good judgment does not align with our caucus principles of mutual respect and trust,” Moyes said in a statement.
“As such MLA Wasyliw can no longer continue his role in our caucus.”
Nygard, who founded a fashion empire in Winnipeg, was sentenced earlier this month to 11 years in prison for sexually assaulting four women at his company’s headquarters in Toronto.
The 83-year-old continues to face charges in Manitoba, Quebec and the United States.
Moyes declined to say whether Wasyliw would be sitting as an Independent.
The legislature member for Fort Garry was first elected in 2019. Before the NDP formed government in 2023, Wasyliw served as the party’s finance critic.
He previously came under fire from the Opposition Progressive Conservatives for continuing to work as a lawyer while serving in the legislature.
At the time, Wasyliw told the Winnipeg Free Press that he was disappointed he wasn’t named to cabinet and planned to continue working as a defence lawyer.
Premier Wab Kinew objected to Wasyliw’s decision, saying elected officials should focus on serving the public.
There were possible signs of tension between Wasyliw and Kinew last fall. Wasyliw didn’t shake hands with the new premier after being sworn into office. Other caucus members shook Kinew’s hand, hugged or offered a fist bump.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick’s finance minister says the province recorded a surplus of $500.8 million for the fiscal year that ended in March.
Ernie Steeves says the amount — more than 10 times higher than the province’s original $40.3-million budget projection for the 2023-24 fiscal year — was largely the result of a strong economy and population growth.
The report of a big surplus comes as the province prepares for an election campaign, which will officially start on Thursday and end with a vote on Oct. 21.
Steeves says growth of the surplus was fed by revenue from the Harmonized Sales Tax and federal money, especially for health-care funding.
Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs has promised to reduce the HST by two percentage points to 13 per cent if the party is elected to govern next month.
Meanwhile, the province’s net debt, according to the audited consolidated financial statements, has dropped from $12.3 billion in 2022-23 to $11.8 billion in the most recent fiscal year.
Liberal critic René Legacy says having a stronger balance sheet does not eliminate issues in health care, housing and education.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
HALIFAX – Some Halifax-area landlords say fixed-term leases allow property owners to recoup operating costs they otherwise can’t under Nova Scotia’s rent cap.
Their comments to a legislative committee today are in reaction to plans by the government to extend the five per cent cap on rental increases to the end of 2027.
But opposition parties and housing activists say the bill’s failure to address fixed-term leases has created a loophole that allows large corporate landlords to boost rents past five per cent for new tenants.
But smaller landlords told a committee today that they too benefit from fixed-term leases, which they said help them from losing money on their investment.
Jenna Ross, of Halifax-based Happy Place Property Management, says her company started implementing those types of leases “because of the rent cap.”
Landlord Yarviv Gadish called the use of fixed-term leases “absolutely essential” in order to keep his apartments presentable and to get a return on his investment.
Unlike a periodic lease, a fixed-term lease does not automatically renew beyond its set end date. The provincial rent cap covers periodic leases and situations in which a landlord signs a new fixed-term lease with the same tenant.
However, there is no rule preventing a landlord from raising the rent as much as they want after the term of a fixed lease expires — as long as they lease to someone new.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
