Thousands of passengers aboard a cruise ship struck by the coronavirus waited anxiously on Tuesday for their turn to leave the vessel moored in the San Francisco Bay Area, even if it meant being shipped to military bases for weeks of quarantine.

After days of idling off the northern California coast because of evidence that it was the breeding ground for new coronavirus infections, the Grand Princess docked on Monday at the port of Oakland with about 3,500 passengers and crew onboard, including 21 who had tested positive for the virus.

About two dozen people who needed acute medical care were taken off the ship first on Monday, although it was not clear how many had tested positive for the virus, said Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for the California Office of Emergency Services.

Many of the nearly 240 Canadians onboard left the ship after the critically ill departed and stood outside two tents displaying Canadian flags. Canada and Britain were among the countries sending chartered flights to retrieve their citizens. The ship carried people from 54 countries, and foreigners were to be flown home.

About 150 Californians who left the ship were sent to Travis air force base, where they will be quarantined.

Police stand guard near the Grand Princess cruise ship docking at the Port of Oakland. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

Passengers left onboard on Monday night were eager to depart in the coming days. “We’re trying to stay calm and we’re trying to stay positive but it’s getting harder and harder. They can’t make up their minds how to keep us safe,” said passenger Beryl Ward, 77, of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Ward’s cabin mate, Carolyn Wright, 63, also of Santa Fe, said she looked out her cabin window as passengers lined up to depart and also saw people in yellow protective clothing, gloves and hazardous materials suits.

Video images shot on Monday showed long lines of people forming near processing tents and ambulances waiting to take some passengers away.

“They were queueing up the passengers like cattle,” Wright said. “Everybody was bunched up. They were physically touching each other and they were backed up along the gangplank.”

Some were taken away in chartered buses, Wright said. Before the ship arrived, four large private passenger buses were parked at the terminal, where workers in reflective jackets gathered.

Departures resumed on Tuesday morning and an additional 270 passengers had left the ship by Tuesday afternoon, many of them who traveled on to Travis and Joint Base San Antonio Lackland in Texas to complete the mandatory quarantine.

Passengers wearing masks trickling out of the Grand Princess on Tuesday morning and walked to the bottom of a ramp, where masked officials in yellow protective gear and blue plastic gloves took their temperature and led them to a tent for more screening before they lined up to board a bus.

Medical personnel prepare to screen passengers as they disembark from the Grand Princess cruise ship on Tuesday in Oakland, California. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Grand Princess had been held off the coast since Wednesday, after several coronavirus cases were discovered on the ship. Passengers had been isolated in their cabins for days. When they were finally allowed a few minutes on deck, Ward said, they were warned to wear masks and to try to stay 6ft (2 meters) away from each other.



It’s unclear how many passengers and crew members aboard the ship have contracted the virus. Only about 50 people had been tested onboard.

After docking on Monday, US passengers were to be flown or bussed from the port, chosen for its proximity to an airport and a military base, to bases in California, Texas and Georgia for testing and 14-day quarantines. Some passengers arrived at Travis air force base in northern California on Monday night.

But Wright and others said nobody had been told the details.

“I’m willing to be quarantined,” Wright said. “’But I want to know if I’m positive or not. We don’t even know if we’re going to get tested. It’s all rumor and speculation.”

“I’m bored and frustrated,” she added. “All of a sudden a two-week vacation has turned into a five-week vacation.”

Michelle Heckert, a Bay Area resident who was quarantined as a passenger on the ship and disembarked on Monday, has been sharing songs about her experience aboard the Grand Princess. Before disembarking, she said shipmates she had spoken with seemed to be in generally good spirits despite having to remain in their rooms.

🎶 Stuck on a ship, scared as sh*t, but we’re all right 🎶



This quarantined cruise ship passenger is turning to music amid the coronavirus outbreak pic.twitter.com/U51lHEaKZn — NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 9, 2020

“Most of the passengers I’ve been in contact with seem to be positive or at least trying to remain calm. Our balcony neighbors seem cheery, especially when they can go out and enjoy the sun,” she said.

“Obviously people would love to get off, but we still have 14 days of quarantine, so it’s a bit bittersweet.”

Heckert later posted a video on Twitter of her grandparents dancing, saying they were relieved to be on land. Five hours later, she posted that they were headed to bed in their new home for the next 14 days.

About 1,100 crew members, 19 of whom have tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship, which will dock elsewhere after passengers are unloaded.

The California governor and Oakland mayor sought to reassure people that none of the cruise ship passengers would be exposed to the public before completing quarantine.

Cruise ships have come under scrutiny by those who view them as potential germ factories because they pack thousands of people in close quarters.

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.

Passengers disembark from the Grand Princess cruise. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A third vessel, the Caribbean Princess, was supposed to dock in Grand Cayman on Monday but the cruise line said it will keep its thousands of passengers and crew from disembarking until crew members are tested for the Covid-19 virus.

Around the world, nations have limited the movements of millions of people in an effort to stop the spread of the virus.

California officials expect the number of cases in the state to rise significantly in the coming days and weeks. Newsom told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon there are 157 confirmed cases in the state so far. California has thousands of coronavirus test kits, he said, but the state needs more reagents and personnel in order to conduct more tests.

In northern California, Santa Clara county this week announced a ban of all large gatherings of at least 1,000 people through March. The announcement came hours after the county’s public health department announced the county’s first coronavirus death, a woman in her 60s.

“We are clearly facing a historic public health challenge,” Sara Cody, the public health officer for Santa Clara county, said on Monday night at a press conference.

Newsom said he was working with Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, to pass measures to help California workers affected by the crisis.

The virus has infected 600 people in the United States, and at least 26 have died, most in Washington state.

Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, said communities will need to start thinking about canceling large gatherings, closing schools and letting more employees work from home, as many companies have done after an outbreak in the Seattle area.