Via the Globe and Mail: ‘We don’t know what’s going to happen to us’: Canadians on cruise with four dead in apparent COVID-19 outbreak. Excerpt:
When Chris and Anna Joiner boarded the MS Zaandam cruise ship in Buenos Aires three weeks ago — the start of a trip to celebrate Mr. Joiner’s recent retirement — they had seen the coverage about the spread of COVID-19 around the world.
But cruise operators insisted they were taking steps to protect passengers, such as banning travellers from China, and the Orleans, Ont. couple feared they would lose thousands of dollars if they cancelled. So they set off on what was supposed to be a 31-day voyage to the Falkland Islands and around the southern tip of Chile.
Now, they are trapped in their rooms as the ship sits anchored just outside the western end of the Panama Canal, after four passengers died amid an apparent outbreak of COVID-19. Two people on board tested positive for the disease and more than 100 passengers and crew have reported flu-like symptoms.
“I thought I was going to throw up, because it came as such a shock," Ms. Joiner said, recalling when the passengers were told about the deaths.
“All of the sudden, four people are dead. We were a healthy ship one week, four people are dead the next. ... We don’t know what’s going to happen to us.”
Ottawa says there are 248 Canadians, including one crew member, on the cruise, which is operated by Holland America. Healthy passengers were being transferred on Saturday to another Holland America ship, the MS Rotterdam. Ms. Joiner said she has a mild cough so she and her husband remain on the Zaandam.
The ship had been waiting permission to pass through the Panama Canal, which it received on Saturday, as it attempts to reach its final destination of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It’s not clear when the ship will begin moving again; passengers were told on Saturday evening that work to transfer some passengers to the Rotterdam would continue on Sunday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government was working with Panama to get the passengers off the ship.
"We know this is a very difficult situation for them, for their families,'' Mr. Trudeau said Saturday.
Global Affairs Canada said it expects the ships to reach an American port in the coming days.
Holland America said it is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as it transferred healthy passengers to the Rotterdam. The company said passengers with inside cabins and those over 70 years old were given priority.
Cruise ships quickly emerged as a particularly dangerous place as COVID-19 spread around the world. There have been several examples of large numbers of passengers and crew becoming infected on cruise ships, prompting governments to deny them permission to dock and allow passengers to disembark.
