Former passenger on Carnival ship docking in Gulfport tested positive for coronavirus
One of three cruise ships about to dock in Gulfport potentially carried a patient who has been diagnosed with new coronavirus, port director Jonathon Daniels just learned Sunday as the ship, Carnival Valor, headed into the Gulfport Ship Channel.
Crew members will be isolated aboard the ships, Daniels said.
“The crews are not getting off at all,” Daniels said. “The crews are relegated to the vessel.”
He said Carnival Cruise Lines has protocols set up with companies that service the ship for getting supplies onboard.
Daniels said federal authorities determined that no shore leave will be granted for the crews.
The passenger aboard the Carnival Valor is a 49-year-old man from Ohio who tested positive Friday for COVID-19 after he started displaying symptoms, news outlets in Columbus, Ohio, were reporting by Saturday morning.
The Carnival Valor left New Orleans for a cruise on Feb. 29 and returned March 5, according to WCHM news in Ohio.
A statement from Carnival said: “We have not been contacted by Columbus, Ohio, public health authorities about this matter. In addition, we have reviewed the medical case history on the ship of the last three cruises dating back to Feb. 29 through today and there has not been any guest or crew who have been seen with any influenza like illness.”
Daniels said the port has been in constant communications with the cruise lines and federal and state authorities about the ships’ arrivals. A second Carnival ship, Carnival Freedom, arrives Monday, he said.
Daniels said he does not believe the Carnival Freedom and a Royal Carribean cruise ship arriving and docking offshore Wednesday had any new coronavirus cases.
The Royal Carribean cruise ship, Majesty of the Seas, will dock about 18 miles south of Gulfport.
He said the ships are coming to Gulfport because there is no room for them to dock in their homeports. The Carnival ships are homeported in New Orleans, while the Royal Caribbean ship is homeported in Houston. The ports there do not have room for all the ships because they normally rotate in out and of port.
However, the four major cruise lines have suspended operations because of the coronavirus.
Daniels said port employees have been working for the past year to secure a cruise service for the port in Gulfport, so the cruise lines contacted the port when they saw berthing spaces would be needed.
“We have asked consistently, just about every call, asked about this situation, about any virus issues,” he said. “That’s been front and center. None of that has been mentioned to us.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2020 at 1:31 PM.
