Uh oh: Two coronavirus victims die aboard Japanese cruise ship from which Americans were evacuated

Maybe this is why the State Department decided to get those people out of there:

Japanese officials defended their handling of cruise-ship virus victims after the first two passenger deaths were reported—one a woman in her 80s who had a fever for a week before getting to a hospital. Health minister Katsunobu Kato told Parliament the two “received the best medical treatment” but couldn’t be saved after catching the novel coronavirus aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

As of Thursday, 634 passengers and crew members were diagnosed with the virus out of 3,063 tested. Slightly more than half have no symptoms at all, officials said, and many of the remainder have only mild fever or a cough. But 28 virus-positive patients were reported in serious condition Thursday.

Doctors have said the virus can be particularly harmful in elderly patients and those with previous medical problems. Many passengers were elderly and taking medication for chronic conditions. One of the two fatal cases, a Japanese man in his 80s, had pre-existing bronchial asthma and had been treated for angina.

It’s fair to point out that both of those who died were in their 80s and had other underlying health issues.

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But it’s also fair to recognize that, if 634 people out of 3,063 tested positive for the virus, then it was clearly spreading rapidly and the idea of quarantining people in their cabins may not have been effective.

It’s always been understood that cruise ships are like petri dishes for disease. You’re in close quarters with thousands of other people for days on end, and there’s nowhere you can go to get away from any of it. It may be very pleasant basking in the sun up on the Lido deck, but it’s also packed with people and unless you want to jump overboard, you’re going to be in such close quarters until the ship docks.

So when we’re talking about a virus that’s highly communicable and whose nature is not well understood, it’s really just a roll of the dice to tell people to stay in their quarters and expect that’s going to protect them. You still have to deliver food to them. They still have to use the ship’s water supply. They still have to breathe the air that comes in and out of their doors when they open it.

When the State Department announced its decision on Saturday to evacuate the Americans, many of the passengers themselves complained about it. They’d been expected to be released from the ship in a few days anyway, and now they were being flown to the U.S. to undergo another 14-day quarantined at an Air Force base. Why would that be better?

This is why. Now you’ve had two deaths and more than 600 people testing positive for the virus. The cruise ship was not a safe place for the Americans, and the on-board quarantine could not be trusted. Hopefully there are no new positive tests to come from the Air Force base quarantines and these people can soon go home to their families.

But there can’t be a worse place for them or anyone else to be than aboard this cruise ship. The State Department made the right call.